What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Leadership

These days it is more or less commonplace to hear how vital it is for all great leaders to focus on the quality of relationships he or she has with the members of a group or company. The quality of relationships within a group is shorthand for a complex set of interacting factors, all at play in every group. We call these factors “Relational Intelligence” Some of these factors are: the degree of interpersonal respect that prevails; the clarity of the ethical environment; the degree to which a vision of what the group stands for is held by the members of the group and is felt as meaningful. Most often the quality of leadership of the group is a critical factor necessary for a group to succeed (or fail) in this area. Gaining knowledge about how to develop this aspect of one’s leadership is no easy matter, as anyone who has undertaken the task knows.

Where do we turn to develop our understanding of human beings? We have begun to learn that to understand others requires first and foremost knowledge of ourselves. Second, critical to the development of this understanding is not only studying oneself but also studying the great writers (artists as well as psychologists), whose work is compelling to us precisely because it gives form to important truths about the nature of human beings. *A growing trend among business leaders is to turn to the greatest of writers of English, and surely the greatest student of human nature: William Shakespeare.

The key note address will weave recitations of the Shakespeare text on Henry V, with the great truths about the nature of leadership reflected therein. We will discuss how Relational Intelligence can help us further understand what leadership requires of us, and how we might be able to develop some skills ourselves. The skills that Henry V, one of England’s greatest leaders, demonstrates through some passionate, inspiring and motivating texts written by Shakespeare.

* John Whitney, Professor at Columbia’s School of Management recently wrote a book (with Tina Packer , founder of Shakespeare and Company) focused on what business leaders can learn from Shakespeare’s study of power and authority.