The Mythical CEO

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The Mythical CEO

• Corporate Mythology - A reality deeper than truth

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What is this course?

• Guided, self-directed cross-topic study on
  mythology and corporate life
• Guest lecturers to discuss mythology, religion,
  politics, psychology and history
• Guest lecturers from corporate recruitment
• Readings on mythology, business, and
  corporate/industrial history
• International relations/political science should
  be taken separately in the program
• Non-verbal communication curriculum/cross-cultural
  sociology should also be taken as part of the
  program

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Course Foundations

• Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
  (required reading)
• All heroes have a mythological journey
• CEOs and corporations pass down myth from
  generation to generation of corporate employees

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Course will seek to define

• What is the heroes journey?
• How do corporations/CEOs tell of a heros story?
• What does this mean for the corporation?

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Required Reading

• Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces
• Excerpts and writings from R.G. Collingwood
• Who Rules America?, William Domhoff (excerpts
  only)
• An Outline of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud
  (excerpts only)
• Writings of Carl Jung (excerpts only)

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Suggested Readings

• Each student will have a list of suggested
  readings from each category
• A student will pick one or two from each category
  and have the option to substitute a book that is
  not listed if it fits

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Suggested Readings

• Category One - A dominant paradigm (two
  recommended)
• The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
• The Prince, Nicolo Machiavelli
• The Art of War, Sun Tzu
• The Emergence of Cooperation Among Egoists,
  Robert Jervis
• Diplomacy, Sir Harold Nicolson
• International Relations Theory and
  Multilateralsm The Search for Foundations, James
  A. Caporaso
• Turbulence in World Politics, A theory of Change
  and Continuity, James Rosenau
• Today and Tomorrow, Henry Ford
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

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Suggested Readings

• Category Two - A Biography (add your own)
• Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time,
  Daniel Gross
• My Life, Bill Clinton
• Iacocca, An Autobiography, Lee Iacocca
• Jack Straight from the Gut, Jack Welch and John
  A. Byrne
• My Life and Work, Henry Ford
• Hard Drive Bill Gates and the Making of the
  Microsoft Empire, James Wallace and Bill Erickson
  or Business _at_ The Speed of Thought, Bill Gates

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Readings (cont)

• Category Three Excerpts, Articles, and other
• CEOs who should lose their jobs, Fast Company
  Magazine
• The Curse of the Superstar CEO, Harvard Business
  Review
• The Gambler, Dostoevsky
• The Idiot, Dostoevsky
• Recommendations may come based upon assignment
  choice

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Assignment

• Write a paper about a modern day hero and
  discuss his/her journey towards becoming a CEO
• Discuss how the organization is influenced and
  how the myths are disseminated through the
  organization
• Or, if you do not see a hero use your readings to
  relate to your own heros journey and what kind
  of company you would form and the types of myths
  you would disseminate them
• Or, discuss your own theories on how mythology
  exists today in the organization

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Carl Jung

• Freuds Crown Prince
• Spiritual
• Broke away from Freud because of philosophical
  reasons (and maybe Freuds ego)
• Ego (conscious mind), Personal Unconscious, and
  Collective Unconscious
• Archetypes - hero, anima/us, persona, mana,
  shadow, mother, father, maiden, child, wise old
  man/woman

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The Hero with a Thousand Faces

• Every culture throughout history has had at least
  one hero
• Every story about heroism shares similarities
  regardless of origin
• The hero myth place out in goals, expectations,
  ideals, rights of passage
• Myths shape culture

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Heros Journey

• Departure
• Initiation
• Return
• The Keys

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Heroic Character

• Unnatural Beginnings
• Hero can take many forms warrior, lover, tyrant,
  redeemer, saint

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Joseph Campbell defines the problem of today

• We lack a collective hero

• We dont have an understanding of what makes us
  want to embark on the journey

• Everything is up to the individual

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Do you think its true?

• He came from humble beginnings from a small
  Tennessee town.

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Clueless?

• He took a company whos name was bigger than the
  company and divided it up into autonomous
  self-run divisions to create focus through
  decentralization

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Now you have to know.

• Passionate about growing 20 each year, he told
  each division that they had to grow 20. Thats
  the law, says the soft-spoken but iron-willed
  Brown
• After his first two months, he approached a
  division leader and wanted to know why he hadnt
  turned it around yet to start growing 20

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What stories are common to all organizations?

• Started in the mailroom and worked his way up to
  CEO
• Working longer hours means more dedication and
  loyalty
• You have to pay your dues

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Discussion