HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Harvard Kennedy School

(MLD-201A) Exercising Leadership: The Politics of Change

Fall 2014

General Course Information

This course provides a diagnostic and strategic foundation for leadership practice. Designed for
professionals from diverse backgrounds and cultures, the course builds upon the extraordinary
experience of many of our students. The purpose of the course is to increase one’s capacity to lead
with and without authority, across boundaries, and from any political or organizational position.

In a world in which most organizations, communities, and societies face enormous adaptive
pressures, the practice of leadership is critical – the practice of mobilizing systems of people to
thrive in changing and challenging times. In this course, we apply theory to practice, clarifying
the relationship among key concepts – leadership, management, authority, power, influence,
followership, citizenship – to provide a practical and coherent theoretical framework. We
develop both diagnostic tools for analyzing the complexity of change in social systems, and
strategies of action. These action strategies include: using authority and power wisely,
mobilizing responsibility across boundaries, managing economies of attention, generating
innovation, building trust, orchestrating multi-party conflict, regulating disequilibrium,
refashioning narratives to both build and depart from history, and building a culture of
adaptability for the long-term. In addition, we begin to explore the challenge of managing
personally the inevitable stresses and dangers of leadership.

The course draws from several disciplines: Philosophy and biology provide the concepts of
paradigmatic change and adaptation. Political science and business management provide
perspectives on the functions of authority. History and literature provide a rich caseload from which
to explore the nature of adaptive success and failure. Social psychology and system dynamics
provide insight into social systems and an approach to diagnosing their productivity and
dysfunctions. Music provides a language for working with the practices of inspiration, creativity,
listening, partnership, and harmony (consonance, dissonance, and resolution).

Several courses at the Kennedy School build from the foundation of MLD-201, including courses on
conflict resolution and negotiation, public narrative and organizing, persuasion and communication,
ethics and group dynamics, and applications of leadership in specific policy and institutional
contexts. In addition, students are strongly encouraged to take the sister course for MLD-201 in
January, MLD-364j: Leadership on the Line, which utilizes the systemic framework of MLD-201 to
cultivate at the personal level the effective deployment of oneself in practice.
Instructor:
Ronald Heifetz 617-495-7867 L-204, Littauer, 2nd Floor
Ronald_Heifetz@harvard.edu
Faculty Assistant:
Stacy Hannell 617-496-1477 L-209, Littauer, 2nd Floor
Stacy_Hannell@hks.harvard.edu

Teaching Assistants:

Hayane Dahmen (Head TA) 202-560-2295 hayane_dahmen@hks15.harvard.edu

Evelien Blom 857-389-7638 Evelien_Blom@hks15.harvard.edu
Caitlin Hartman 818-470-2008 caitlin_hartman@hks15.harvard.edu
Antonio Labrador Jimenez 857-313-8520 Antonio_Labrador_Jimenez@hks15.harvard.edu
Daniela Martinez 617-895-7671 Daniela_Martinez_Gutierrez@hks15.harvard.edu
Sara Minkara 781-534-5832 sminkara@eti-vision.org
Stuti Shukla 617-949-9972 stuti_shukla@mail.harvard.edu

Schedule:

Lecture and Discussion Sessions Mondays 2:40 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Room L-140

Consultation Group Sessions 1½ hours per week Times and rooms to be arranged

Debriefing Sessions Wednesdays 2:40 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Room L-140

In addition to the weekly lecture/discussion, consultation group, and debriefing session, the course
has several evening sessions that use films and musical exercises to illustrate key skills and concepts.
The three music exercise evenings, in particular, are required -- please review carefully the dates
listed on the syllabus for these sessions.

Design:

The course uses a variety of means to learn theory and the arts of practice. In addition to the
traditional methods of lectures, readings, and films, the course uses three more innovative teaching
methods: student cases, “case-in-point” learning, and structured exercises. First, the course devotes
a majority of its time to analyzing the past professional experiences that students bring from around
the world and across sectors -- each student works on a personal case study of leadership throughout
the term. Second, students analyze the social and political dynamics of problem-solving and
learning common to many organizations and societies facing critical challenges by analyzing the
evolving dynamics of the class itself as a case-in-point in collective problem-solving and learning.
Third, through structured exercises of both reflection and action, some of which involve poetry and
music, students learn a variety of authoritative, creative, and communication skills integral to the
practice of leadership.

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Consultation Group Sessions:

The full class is divided randomly into small groups of 7-9 students. The groups meet for 1½ hours
a week at a time to be arranged (there are several options from which to choose). The purpose of
these sessions is to give students a laboratory to:

1. Apply what they learn in class and in the readings to their professional experiences.

2. Investigate ways to exercise leadership--with and without authority.

3. Discover and analyze the dynamics by which groups accomplish and avoid critical and
creative problem-solving work.

The organization of these groups is described in detail in class. Briefly, on a rotating basis, each
student prepares a case study from his or her professional experience and presents it to the group for
consultation. A guide to preparing the case study is distributed in class. In addition, each student
serves as the chairperson for the group on a rotating basis.

During the large class debriefing sessions on Wednesdays, students develop a framework for
leadership analysis by analyzing one of the student cases with the help of the instructor.

Requirements:

1. Complete and on-time attendance. Only key religious holidays, and medical and family
emergencies are permitted. Job interviews are not excused absences.

2. Presentation of a case study to the small group.

3. A weekly written analysis of the consultation group sessions (3-4 pages) in addition to
several short written assignments (1-3 pages).

4. A final paper analyzing aspects of leadership (10-13 pages). This can be based on the
personal case study. Students who also take MLD-364j, Leadership on the Line, will submit
a single paper (14-18 pages) to fulfill the final paper requirement for both courses.

Grading:

Classroom work -- 30% Weekly papers -- 40% Final paper -- 30%

The classroom work grade is based upon one’s effort and the quality of one’s contribution in the
class, and not the quantity or volume of comments. Our key evaluative questions are: How deeply
did each student draw upon and analyze his or her experience? Who well did one mobilize the
learning of fellow students in the class?

Readings:

All course readings will be available on the course page. All other course books will be available on
reserve in the Kennedy School Library. The readings listed each week should be read in preparation
for that week’s discussion.
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 MLD-201A SYLLABUS

______________________________________________________________________________
INTRO WEEK

Sept 3 – Wed Course Shopping

______________________________________________________________________________
WEEK ONE LEARNING TO THINK ABOUT LEADERSHIP

Sept 8 – Mon Introduction

Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers, Introduction and chapter 1 (B)

Plato, The Republic, pp. 227-235 (CP)

Williams, Real Leadership, Introduction and chapter 1. (B)

Sept 10 – Wed Consultation Groups Introduction

______________________________________________________________________________
WEEK TWO SOCIAL LEARNING AND ADAPTIVE WORK

Sept 15 - Mon Argyris and Schön, Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action

Perspective, pp. 1 6, 8-29 (CP)

Berger, Changing on the Job, Introduction, Chapters 1 & 2 (B)

Duckworth, The Having of Wonderful Ideas, Chapters 5 & 6

Dweck, Self-Theories, Chapters 1 – 6. (B)

Kegan and Lahey, "Adult Leadership and Adult Development," in

Kellerman, ed., Leadership: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, pp. 199-230
(CP)

Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, pp. 77-91 (B)

Sept 17 - Wed Case Debriefing

*
(B) denotes readings from required books; (CP) denotes readings from the course pack
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____________________________________________________________________________
WEEK THREE ADAPTIVE WORK

Sept 22 - Mon Cortes, "Facing the World," an Interview in Moyers, A World of Ideas II,
pp. 141-148 (CP)

Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers, chapter 2 (B)

Pascale, Sternin and Sternin, The Power of Positive Deviance, chapter 2 (B)

Pascale, Millermann and Gioja, Surfing the Edge of Chaos, chapters 2 & 10
(CP)

Williams, Real Leadership, chapter 2 (B)

Sept 24 - Wed Case Debriefing

____________________________________________________________________________
WEEK FOUR GROUP AND SYSTEM DYNAMICS

Sept 29 – Mon Ellison, from “Invisible Man,” The Modern Library, pp.15-33 and The
Norton Anthology of American Literature, pp. 1883-1884 (CP)

Fisher, Small Group Decision Making, pp. 166-180 (CP)

Freud, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, chapters 1-6, 9, and
10 (B)

Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers, chapter 3 (B)

Heifetz, “Notes on Group Dynamics,” from Fisher, B. Aubrey, Small

Group Decision Making, pp. 1-11 (CP)

Meadows, “Whole Earth Models and Systems,” pp. 98-108 (CP)

Rice, Learning for Leadership, pp. 23-27, 43-51, 58-87 (CP)

Sept 29- Mon Film: Monday evening, 6:00-9:00 p.m. Location: TBA

Oct 1 – Wed Case Debriefing

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______________________________________________________________________________
WEEK FIVE CREATIVITY AND REALITY

Oct 6 – Mon Friedan, The Second Stage, pp. 15-18, 23-31, 38-41 (CP)

Grudin, The Grace of Great Things, pp. 86-95 (CP)

Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers, chapters 4 and 5 (B)

Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, pp. 160-173 (B)

Machiavelli, The Prince, chapter 6 (CP)

May, The Courage to Create, chapters 1-4 (B)

Selznick, Leadership in Administration, pp. 22-28, 134-154 (CP)

Mulhern, Everyday Leadership, chapter 2 (B)

Oct 8 – Wed Case Debriefing

______________________________________________________________________________
WEEK SIX LEADERSHIP AND AUTHORITY

Oct 13 - Mon Columbus Day Holiday

Oct 15 - Wed The Holy Scriptures, Exodus, chapters 18 and 32, Rev. Standard Version (CP)

Barnard, The Functions of the Executive, pp. 215-234 (CP)

Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers, chapters 6 and 7 (B)

Kellerman and Rhode, Women and Leadership: The State of Play and
Strategies for Change, chapter 1 (CP)
May, The Courage to Create, chapters 5 and 6 (B)

Milgram, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, "The

Dilemma of Obedience," pp.1-12 (CP)
Smith and Berg, Paradoxes of Group Life, chapter 7, pp. 131-151 (CP)

Tucker, Politics as Leadership, pp. 59-67, 77-97 (CP)

Weber, "The Sociology of Charismatic Authority," from Gerth and Mills,

eds., Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, pp. 245-250 and 253-255 (CP)

Oct 15 - Wed Film, Wednesday evening, 6:00-9:00 p.m., Location: TBA

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__________________________________________________________________________
WEEK SEVEN NEUTRALIZATION AND ASSASSINATION

Oct 20 – Mon Arney, Experts in the Age of Systems, pp. 151-175 (CP)

Clausewitz, "On Military Genius," pp. 100-112 and “On Danger in War,”
pp. 113-114 from On War (CP)

Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers, chapters 8, 9, 10 (B)

James, "Expiation and Atonement," from Sacrifice and Sacrament,

pp. 104-128 (CP)

Miyamoto, A Book of Five Rings, pp. 34-50 (CP)

Neustadt, Presidential Power, pp. 3-9, 152-153, 161-163, 176-177 (B)

Pearson, "The Altruist," from The Hero Within, pp. 123-149 (CP)

Oct 20 - Mon Monday evening, 6-7:30 pm, Case Debriefing Make-up Session

Oct 22 - Wed Case Debriefing

______________________________________________________________________________
WEEK EIGHT PURPOSE, TASK AND WORK AVOIDANCE

Oct 27 – Mon Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (B)

Neustadt, Presidential Power, pp. 169-172 (B)

Sandberg, Lean In, chapters 2, 3, 10, and 11 (B)

Steele, The Content of Our Character, pp. ix-xii and 57-75 (CP)

Williams, Real Leadership, chapter 5 (B)

Oct 29 - Wed Case Debriefing

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_____________________________________________________________________________
WEEK NINE INTERVENTION: MANAGING CHAOS AND CONFLICT

Nov 3 - Mon Burns, Leadership, pp. 228-240 (CP)

Pascale, Sternin and Sternin, Positive Deviance, chapters, 3 and 8 (B)

Pruitt and Rubin, Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate and

Settlement, pp. 1-24, 62-87 (CP)
Rukeyser, "Ann Burlak" and "Käthe Kollwitz," The Collected Poems
of Muriel Rukeyser, pp. 196-199, 479-482 (CP)

Tracy, The Secret between Us: Competition among Women, pp. 3-30 (CP)

Williams, Real Leadership, chapter 3 (B)

Nov 3 - Mon Music Exercise #1, Monday evening, 6:00-9:00 p.m., Location: L140

Nov 5 - Wed Case Debriefing

_____________________________________________________________________________
WEEK TEN LISTENING (SENSING THE ENVIRONMENT)

Nov 10 - Mon Burns, Leadership, pp. 444-462 (CP)

Mathieu, The Listening Book, pp. 24-25, 34-37, 43-45, 55-58, 69-70, 73-77,
117-122, 128-133 (CP)

Neruda, "To Acario Cotapos," from Fully Empowered, pp. 68-75 (CP)

Neustadt, Presidential Power, pp. 128-135 (B)

Rogers and Roethlisberger, "Barriers and Gateway to Communication,"

in Harvard Business Review: On Human Relations, pp. 105-111 (CP)

Smith and Berg, Paradoxes of Group Life, chapter 8, pp. 152-181 (CP)

Nov 10 - Mon Music Exercise #2, Monday evening, 6:00-9:00 p.m., Location: L140

Nov 12 - Wed Case Debriefing

Nov 14 - Fri Review Session, Friday, 12:00 – 5:00 pm, Room TBA

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____________________________________________________________________________
WEEK ELEVEN
INSPIRATION
Nov 17 - Mon Emerson, "Self-Reliance," from The Portable Emerson, pp. 138-164 (CP)

Erikson, Gandhi's Truth, pp. 229-254 (CP)

Vaclav Havel, "New Year's Address," from Open Letters: Selected

Writings 1965-1990, pp. 390-396 (CP)

Neustadt, Presidential Power, pp. 29-49 (B)

Wills, Certain Trumpets, chapter 14 (CP)

Nov 17 - Mon Music Exercise #3, Monday evening, 6:00-9:00 p.m., Location: L140

Nov 19 - Wed Case Debriefing

Nov 20 - Thurs Film, Thursday evening, 6:15-9:15 p.m., Location: TBA

_____________________________________________________________________________
WEEK TWELVE BOUNDARIES AND PARTNERSHIP

Nov 24 – Mon Alderfer, ed. "Consulting to Underbounded Systems," in Advances in

Experiential Social Processes, pp. 267-295 (CP)

Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers, chapter 11 (B)

Hirschhorn and Gilmore, "The New Boundaries of the Boundaryless

Company,” in Harvard Business Review, pp. 4-15 (CP)

Joreen, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," Radical Feminism, ed. Koedt,

et al., pp. 285-299 (CP)

Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, pp. 511-588 (CP)

Nov 26 – Wed No class

_____________________________________________________________________________
WEEK THIRTEEN LAYING THE PAST TO REST

Dec 1 – Mon Case Debriefing

Dec 3 - Wed Vicki LaFarge, "Termination in Groups," from McCollom and

Gillette, Groups in Context, pp. 171-185 (CP)

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alderfer, Clayton, ed. "Consulting to Underbounded Systems," in Advances in Experiential

Social Processes, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1980.

Argyris, Chris, and Schön, Donald, Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective,
Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, 1978.

Arney, William Ray, Experts in the Age of Systems, Albuquerque, NM: University of New
Mexico Press, 1991.

Baym, Nina, Gen. Ed., The Norton Anthology of American Literature, “Ralph Ellison 1914-
1994,” New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Fifth Edition, Vol. 2, 1998.

Barnard, Chester, Functions of the Executive (1938), Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1966.

Berger, Jennifer G. Changing On the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World, Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 2012.

The Bible, Revised Standard Version (1901).

Burns, James MacGregor, Leadership, New York: Harper and Row, 1978.

Cortes, Jr., Ernesto, "Facing the World," an interview in Moyers, Bill, A World of Ideas II, New
York: Doubleday, 1989.

Clausewitz, Carl Von, On War, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.

Duckworth, Eleanor, The Having of Wonderful Ideas – And Other Essays on Teaching and
Learning, New York: Teacher’s College Press 2006.

Dweck, Carol S. Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development,

Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis, 2000.

Ellison, Ralph, Invisible Man, New York: The Modern Library, 1994.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, The Portable Emerson, New York: Penguin, 1981.

Erikson, Erik H., Gandhi's Truth, New York: Norton, 1993.

Fisher, B. Aubrey, Small Group Decision Making, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980.

Frankl, Viktor E., Man’s Search for Meaning, Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.

Freud, Sigmund, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 1989.

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Friedan, Betty, The Second Stage, New York: Summit Books, 1981.

Gillette, Jonathan and McCollom, Marion, eds., Groups in Context, Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley, 1990.

Grudin, Robert, The Grace of Great Things: Creativity and Innovation, New York: Ticknor
& Fields, 1990.

Havel, Vaclav, Open Letters, Selected Writings 1965-1990, New York: Knopf, 1991.

Heifetz, Ronald, Leadership Without Easy Answers, Cambridge: Belknap/Harvard University

Press, 1994.

Hirschhorn, Larry and Gilmore, Thomas, "The New Boundaries of the Boundaryless Company,”
Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1992.

James, E.O., Sacrifice and Sacrament, New York: Thames & Hudson, 1962.

Joreen, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," Radical Feminism, ed. Koedt, et al, New York:
Quadrangle Books, 1973.

Kegan, Robert, and Lahey, Lisa, "Adult Leadership and Adult Development," in Kellerman,
Barbara, ed., Leadership: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, 1984.

Kellerman, Barbara and Rhode, Deborah L., eds. Women & Leadership: The State of Play and
Strategies for Change, San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Jossey-Bass, A
Wiley Imprint, 2007.

Kuhn, Thomas A., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 1962.

Machiavelli, Niccolo, The Prince (1515), New York: Bantam, 1984.

Mathieu, W.A., The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music, Boston, MA: Shambala,
1991.

May, Rollo, The Courage to Create, New York: Bantam, 1975.

Meadows, Donella, “Whole Earth Models and Systems,” The CoEvolution Quarterly, Summer
1982.

Milgram, Stanley, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, New York: Harper and Row,
Publishers, 1974.

Miyamoto, Musashi, A Book of Five Rings, New York: The Overlook Press, 1982.

Neruda, Pablo, Fully Empowered, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977.

11
Neustadt, Richard E., Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, 3rd Edition, New York:
The Free Press, 1991.

Pascale, Richard, Millemann, Mark, and Gioja, Linda, Surfing the Edge of Chaos: The Laws of
Nature and The New Laws of Business, New York: Crown Business, 2000.

Pascale, Richard and Sternin, Jerry and Monique, The Power of Positive Deviance: How
Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems, Boston: Harvard Business
Press, 2010.

Pearson, Carol S., The Hero Within, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1998.

Plato, The Republic of Plato, London: Oxford University Press, 1945.

Pruitt, Dean G. and Sung Hee Kim, Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate, and
Settlement, 3rd edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Rice, A. K., Learning for Leadership, London: Tavistock Publications Limited, 1965.

Rogers, Carl R. and Roethlisberger, F.J., in Harvard Business Review: On Human Relations,
New York: Harper & Row, 1979.

Rukeyser, Muriel, The Collected Poems, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978.

Sandberg, Sheryl with Scovell, Nell, Lean In:Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, New York:
Knopf, 2013.

Schlesinger, Jr., Arthur, The Coming of the New Deal: 1933-1935, The Age of Roosevelt,
Volume II, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1958.

Selznick, Philip, Leadership in Administration, New York: Harper & Row, 1957.

Smith, Kenwyn and Berg, David, Paradoxes of Group Life, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987.

Steele, Shelby, The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America, New York:
Harper Perennial, 1991.

Tracy, Laura, Competition Among Women:The Secret Between Us, Boston: Little Brown, 1991.

Tucker, Robert C., Politics as Leadership, Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1981.

Weber, Max, from Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, Gerth and Mills, eds., New York: Oxford
University Press, 1946.

Williams, Dean, Real Leadership; Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest
Challenges, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005.

Wills, Garry, Certain Trumpets, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994

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 BOOKS ON ORDER AT THE COOP, HARVARD SQUARE

Costello, Robert B., ex. ed., The American Heritage College Dictionary, 4th ed., Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 2002.

Berger, Jennifer G. Changing On the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World, Stanford:
Stanford University Press 2012.

Dweck, Carol S. Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development,

Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis, 2000.

Frankl, Viktor E., Man’s Search for Meaning, Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.

Freud, Sigmund, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921), Strachey translation,
New York: Norton, 1959.

Heifetz, Ronald, Leadership Without Easy Answers, Cambridge: Belknap/Harvard University Press,
1994.

Kuhn, Thomas, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago,
1970.

May, Rollo, The Courage to Create, New York: Bantam, 1975.

Mulhern, Daniel Granholm, Everyday Leadership, Getting Results in Business, Politics and Life,
The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2007.

Neustadt, Richard, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, 3rd ed., New York: The Free
Press, 1990.

Pascale, Richard and Sternin, Jerry and Monique, The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely
Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems, Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2010.

Sandberg, Sheryl with Scovell, Nell, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, New York:
Knopf, 2013.

Watkins, Calvert, The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2000.

Williams, Dean, Real Leadership; Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest
Challenges, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005.

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