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Values-Based Leadership: Enduring Lessons from the Aeneid

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Leadership through the Classics

Abstract

This paper explored the Aeneid, Virgil’s foundation epic of the Latin cannon, from a values-based leadership perspective, which is defined as the moral foundation underlying stewardship decisions and actions of leaders. Specifically, we juxtaposed the resonant leadership elements of vision, culture and values – and their corresponding equivalent Roman themes of fatum, pietas, and virtus. Using a thematic analysis approach, we coded the following eight values: integrity, good judgment, leadership by example, decision-making, trust, justice/fairness, humility, and sense of urgency. We found that while the Aeneid extols prototypical values, the epic instructs that truly effective leadership is not about being a monochromatic prototype. Rather, the epic reveals that the essence and privilege of effective leadership demands reflection on the dynamic relationship between the leader and the led towards a better, envisioned future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Aeneid, which chronicles the story of Aeneas and his followers from their exodus after the fall of Troy in the Iliad to the founding of Rome, is composed of twelve books written in dactylic hexameter and was first published shortly after Virgil’s death in 19 BCE. The hero Aeneas was already known to Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a minor character in the Iliad. Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas’ wanderings, his vague association with the establishment of Rome, and shaped a profound national epic which established the founding myth of Rome and tied it to the legends of Troy and manifest destiny, glorified traditional Roman values which became the basis of socio-political reforms, and established unassailable legitimacy for the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

  2. 2.

    All primary quotes of the Aeneid from: Virgil (1983). The Aeneid. (R. Fitzgerald, Trans.). New York, NY: Random House. (Original work published c. 20 B.C.). Hereafter, only book and lines numbers will be cited.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University, Salem, OR, USA

    Mark Ahn & Larry Ettner

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  1. Mark Ahn
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  2. Larry Ettner
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Correspondence to Mark Ahn .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Howe School of Technology Management, Stevens Institute of Technology, Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, 07030, New Jersey, USA

    Gregory P. Prastacos

  2. and Economics, Economic Cooperation and Development, University of International Business, Huixin Dongjie, Chaoyang District 10, Beijing, China, People's Republic

    Fuming Wang

  3. , Business Faculty, Higher Colleges of Technology, Women's Campus, Dubai, 16062, Utd.Arab.Emir.

    Klas Eric Soderquist

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Ahn, M., Ettner, L. (2012). Values-Based Leadership: Enduring Lessons from the Aeneid. In: Prastacos, G., Wang, F., Soderquist, K. (eds) Leadership through the Classics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32445-1_1

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