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The Garden of Leaders Paul Woodruff (Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, University of Texas in Austin)

The Garden of Leaders By Paul Woodruff (Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, University of Texas in Austin)

Summary

In The Garden of Leaders, philosopher Paul Woodruff advances a new view of liberal arts education that places leadership at the root of everything it does, presenting three core sets of recommendations for how the contemporary university can and should foster such leadership skills.

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The Garden of Leaders Summary

The Garden of Leaders: Revolutionizing Higher Education by Paul Woodruff (Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, University of Texas in Austin)

The Garden of Leaders explores two related questions: What is leadership? And what sort of education could prepare young people to be leaders? Paul Woodruff argues that higher education-particularly but not exclusively in the liberal arts-should set its main focus on cultivating leadership in students. Woodruff advances a new view of liberal arts education that places leadership at the root of everything it does, so that students will be prepared to lead in their lives and careers-and not necessarily in management roles. Woodruff views the contemporary university as sorely lacking an emphasis on leadership, and presents three core sets of recommendations for how they can and should foster it. First, Woodruff posits co-curricular groups, activities, and projects as essential activities for students to gain confidence and leadership skills. Administrations should encourage students to engage in activities outside the classroom, convert coached sports teams into student-led clubs as far as possible, and discourage social organizations that are segregated by race or sex. Second, Woodruff advocates for a different curriculum for all undergraduates, no matter their major-arguing that they need to be taught leadership in the forms of key skills including communication (including good writing, listening, and speaking), as well as exposure to key material in history literature, social science, and ethics. Students should be asked to consider the hardest ethical dilemmas that leaders face, toggling between Machiavelli and great ethical thinkers such as Confucius and Socrates. Third, Woodruff calls for the teaching methods used by instructors to re-orient themselves around the question of leadership, particularly by emphasizing teamwork. Professors should respect their students' independence, avoid tyrannical teaching, and remember that all teachers teach ethics simply by the examples they set in dealing with students. Whether in engineering, music, or classics, The Garden of Leaders advances leadership as a core value that should be at the heart of the educational enterprise-contending that while a college campus can be many things, it should at the very least be a ground upon which new leaders can grow.

The Garden of Leaders Reviews

Woodruff has written an outstanding book designed to provide administrators and faculty with a refreshing perspective-that leadership should be the mission of colleges and universities. * M.J. Safferstone, CHOICE *
In today's world, the question of what exactly constitutes leadership is perhaps more difficult to answer than ever before. And equally difficult to answer is how leadership should be taught to future generations. Drawing on examples from across the ages, Paul Woodruff offers an elegant and passionate plea to educators to give students the right experiences they need to become well-rounded renaissance leaders. * Bjorn Billhardt, CEO of Abilitie (offering leadership exercises to corporations) *
Paul Woodruff's insights let great works from classical antiquity speak out loudly and clearly about how our society can develop the leadership we so badly need. * W.R. Connor, Director, National Humanities Center, 1989-2003; President, The Teagle Foundation, 2003-2009 *
Woodruff tackles a problem that impacts us all; where can we find leaders that we can trust and who express qualities such as courage, justice, wisdom, and an ability to bring people together? We assume that our universities want to develop these qualities of character but many simply don't know how. This book outlines some revolutionary actions that professors, administrators, students, and parents can take to grow the kind of leadership that benefits us all. It's the best book on this subject that I've ever read. * David Nino, Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program, MIT *
As always, Woodruff writes clearly and cogently about complex matters by drawing from his remarkably broad and varied background as soldier, philosopher, classicist, and university leader. This is not a how-to book. It is instead a serious meditation by a serious thinker who plumbs literature and life for their lessons in good- and bad- leadership. It is also an overdue call to professors to rethink the way they teach by recognizing that their primary duty is to help their students learn how to confront decisions intelligently and ethically. We have an urgent need for moral leadership in this country today, and reading Paul Woodruff's book is the best way I know to start working on the problem. * Hunter Rawlings, (Former President, University of Iowa and Cornell University) *

About Paul Woodruff (Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, University of Texas in Austin)

Paul Woodruff is the former Darrell K. Royal Regents Professor in Ethics at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of First Democracy, the Challenge of an Ancient Idea (OUP 2005), Reverence (OUP 2014), and The Garden of Leaders (OUP 2019).

Table of Contents

PART I: UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP Chapter 1: Alexander the Great Had Aristotle Freedom Nature Society Where Do Leaders Come From? Can We Have Too Many Leaders? Why a University? The Plan of This Book Why I Write This Book Chapter 2: Leading from Freedom The Un-Tyrant Giving Shape to Freedom: The Lifeboat Leading with Authority: Beyond Carrots and Sticks Describing Leaders? The Charismatic Dictator The Art of Following Learning from Women Leaders: An Endangered Species? Chapter 3: Messianic Leadership: Joan the Maid Joan the Maid Shaw's Saint Joan Joan's Holy Ignorance Educating Joan? Chapter 4: Natural Leadership: Billy Budd Nature's Best Child Melville's Billy Budd The Billys Among Us Why Educate for Leadership? PART II: WHAT TO LEARN Chapter 5: Educating Billy The Garden of Not Eden Learning from the Outside World Learning in the Classroom Using Data Readings for Future Leaders Chapter 6: Facing Evil: Learning Guile This Side of Paradise Failures of Leadership at Melos (Thucydides) Machiavelli's Prince The Limits of Guile (Sophocles' Philoctetes) Facing Evil in Organizations: Defeating the Immune System Chapter 7: Facing Evil in Ourselves: Justice and Compassion Seeing Danger Understanding Your Own Faults in Others Compassion Unblocking Compassion Justice and Self-Knowledge Facing Your Faults in Others: Bartleby's Boss Know Thyself Chapter 8: Facing Complexity: Leadership and Lying The Knock on the Door The Leadership Dilemma: Home Team vs. the World Moral Dilemmas Machiavelli: Breaking the Rules Following the Rules Living Well with Complexity Chapter 9: Facing Fear, Showing Courage Facing Enemies Facing Friends Listening Loving Leaving Showing Courage Chapter 10: Finding Courage What Sort of Thing is Courage? Courage with Others False Courage False Cowardice Faking It? Truing Courage Sources of Courage Sources of Failure Chapter 11: Performing Leadership Performing Leadership: George Washington at Newburgh Wearing the Face of Leadership Hiding Faults Hypocrisy: Tartuffe and Alceste Defining Hypocrisy Looking as Good as You Try to Be Hard Questions Integrity Chapter 12: Good Ears, Strong Voices Good ears Strong Voices Technology: Beyond Words Overcoming Differences Character: The Finest Example Chapter 13: Becoming Magnetic Virtues, or Beauties of the Soul What Leaders Must Become (and Followers Too) Character with Commitment Making Character Shine Character in Community Character and Diversity Wei Wu Wei (Silent Leadership) PART III: CHANGING HOW WE TEACH AND LEARN Chapter 14: Tyrant Teaching The Lesson: Be Silent Mind-Murder: The Accomplices Students Housekeepers Mind-Murder: The Perpetrators The Authority Trap The Coverage Trap Chapter 15: Teaching Ethical Failure Ethical Hubris Moral Holidays Turning our Backs on Values: The Gorgias Syndrome Not Believing in What We Teach Chapter 16: A Campus Revolution What We Learn How We Learn First, Agree on Goals Second, Every Teacher Teaches Ethics Third, Stop Teaching Fourth, Students Hire Coaches Fifth, Give Students Time Sixth, Trust Students And, Last, a Plea to Parents Discovery Chapter 17: Epilogue: Summary of Recommendations for Change Chapter 18: Supporting Materials A. Leadership and the Humanities B. Classroom Study Guides and Further Reading C. Using Teams for Leadership Experience

Additional information

CIN0190883642G
9780190883645
0190883642
The Garden of Leaders: Revolutionizing Higher Education by Paul Woodruff (Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, Mary Helen Thompson Professor of the Humanities, University of Texas in Austin)
Used - Good
Hardback
Oxford University Press Inc
20190221
272
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - The Garden of Leaders