Beowulf : the heroic, the monstrous, and anglo-saxon concepts of leadership
By: NAPIERKOWSKI, Thomas J
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ArticlePublisher: Philadelphia : Routledge, 2005International Journal of Public Administration - IJPA 28, 5-6 , p. 503 - 516 Abstract: The poem Beowulf highlights the leader's heroic role, and is one of the premier examples of literature as a form of leadership instruction. The heroic ideal is one in which leaders are defined by their ability to live in harmony with both the laws and noble norms of society, to overcome opposition, and to demonstrate the acquisition of virtue by the way the live. They are readily recognized as a contrast to the evils they oppose. At the same time, heroic leaders are exemplars for their followers, and receive much of their power by personifying the virtues to which both they and their followers are committed. Leadership thus unfolds in a net of shared expectations, well-defined and noble ideals, and demonstrated accomplishments. In this, the medieval and Anglo-Saxon ideals are wondrously modern.
The poem Beowulf highlights the leader's heroic role, and is one of the premier examples of literature as a form of leadership instruction. The heroic ideal is one in which leaders are defined by their ability to live in harmony with both the laws and noble norms of society, to overcome opposition, and to demonstrate the acquisition of virtue by the way the live. They are readily recognized as a contrast to the evils they oppose. At the same time, heroic leaders are exemplars for their followers, and receive much of their power by personifying the virtues to which both they and their followers are committed. Leadership thus unfolds in a net of shared expectations, well-defined and noble ideals, and demonstrated accomplishments. In this, the medieval and Anglo-Saxon ideals are wondrously modern.
Volume 28
Numbers 5-6
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