Shakespeare in Charge: The Bard's Guide to Leading and Succeeding on the Business Stage - Hardcover

Augustine, Norman R.; Adelman, Kenneth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786866012 ISBN 13: 9780786866014

Publisher: Hyperion Books, 1999

Synopsis

Shakespeares plays are eternally popular and eternally wise, packed with insights into the human condition and the intricate power play of our relationships. In Shakespeare in Charge, Norman Augustine and Kenneth Adelman apply Shakespeares shrewd psychological insights to the tortuous and unpredictable workings of the corporate world. With the recent success of Shakespeare in Love and Harold Blooms Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Shakespeare in Charge is a smart and timely addition to the shelf of indispensable management books.

About this title

Review

In order to receive my high-school diploma, like many others I was required to memorize various Shakespearean passages. To this day, I can spout soliloquies from Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. Beyond helping with crossword puzzles and being fun at parties, there doesn't seem to be much practical use for this kind of specialized knowledge.

But in their lively book Shakespeare in Charge, Norman Augustine and Kenneth Adelman offer a surprising reason to dust off the old textbooks: Studying Shakespeare's characters - and the sticky situations they find themselves in - can offer busy execs advice about surviving in today's competitive marketplace, the authors argue.

Consider The Taming of the Shrew: Petruchio's goal is to train Katherine to become a model wife so he can marry her and obtain her dowry. Each time Katherine displays her shrewlike behavior in response to his wooing, Petruchio must regroup and redefine his plan of attack. The lesson, the authors say, is to adapt to a changing environment, as 3M learned when it developed Post-it notes out of a failed attempt to create superstrength glue.

In Julius Caesar, Cassius convinces Brutus to help him kill Caesar, a popular and effective leader. Although Caesar receives warnings to "beware the ides of March," he disregards them and is stabbed in the back by conspirators. But Cassius' inability to stand up for what he believes and Brutus' inability to work with others, combined with their combined failure to plan for a successor to Caesar, lead to their downfall. You get the idea.

In Shakespeare's play, King Henry V of England gained valuable information when he disguised himself and walked among his soldiers the night before a battle. Unlike the sugar-coated advice he got from his lieutenants, the leader didn't always hear what he would have liked from the rank and file. As the authors recount, AOL learned that lesson after an outside consultant said it was on the wrong track to increase sales. So AOL gave the consultant the reins and the result is the now successful Web network iVillage.com.

The layout of Shakespeare in Charge cleverly mimics the structure of a play. Divided into Acts I through V, each section contains a "prologue" that introduces the "scenes" (plot synopses) as well as "acting lessons," which cover the act's characters and how their actions translate to the world of modern corporate life.

The book uses examples from many of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, but focuses its bard-business comparisons on five major works: Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet. The fundamentals of a successful business are detailed, such as basic leadership strategies, intelligent risk-taking in the corporate world, effective communication between executives and employees, and expedient crisis management.

While entertaining, Shakespeare in Charge provides more of a course in Business 101 rather than any major revelations. Ultimately, however, Augustine and Adelman have managed to make both Shakespeare and the fundamentals of business accessible and entertaining for anyone on the corporate stage. -- From The Industry Standard

From Library Journal

Both of these books present palatable lessons on leadership, change, risk management, crisis management, power, and emotion, though Corrigan's book has a unique chapter, "Listening to Fools and Knaves." Corrigan's approach is more closely tied to Shakespeare's individual characters, while Augustine and Adelman focus on entire plays and the interaction of characters. Their writing style is also the more casual and engaging of the two. A passage from their introduction effectively captures the rationale for studying the lessons of Shakespeare in a high-tech world: "While the accoutrements of corporate life are now dramatically high tech--dominated by e-mail, cell phones, the web, and PCs--the basics still hinge on human nature." Both books link lessons from Shakespeare to modern-day business practitioners, although Corrigan tends to repeat the well-known names, while Augustine and Adelman refer to less well known, smaller-scale success stories. The latter use more actual passages from the Bard's work and end each "Act" with lessons for today's business leaders. Either or both books would make valid additions to collections of all sizes. If you have succumbed to Dilbert, Winnie the Pooh, and Goldilocks in your business collections, Shakespeare deserves to be represented.
-Susan Dimattia, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0786866012
• ISBN 13: 9780786866014
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 219