On Leadership

For over 50 years, James G. March has made a sustained and innovative contribution to the study of organizations. In his renowned course on leadership at Stanford University he explores the problems of leadership using works of great literature, such as War and Peace and Don Quixote. These essays are based on March’s notes for his course lectures. The notes have been interpreted by Thierry Weil, and translated here from his original French interpretation.

March uses literature to examine a set of dilemmas related to leadership – questions concerning the balance between private life and public duties, between ingenuity and innocence, between diversity and integration, and between the expression and the control of sexuality. He encourages us to explore ideas that are sometimes subversive and unpalatable, but may allow organizations to adapt in a rapidly changing world.

James G. March is Jack Steele Parker Professor of International Management Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Sociology and Education at Stanford University. He has inspired generations of students with his work in the study of organizations. His previous publications include Decisions and Organizations (1989), Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Second Edition, 1992), Organizations (Second Edition, 1993) and The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence (1998), all published by Blackwell Publishing.

Thierry Weil, a former physicist, is Professor of Technology Management at École des Mines de Paris, where he was the Dean of research and graduate studies from 1991 to 1995. He also advises companies and policy makers on the management of innovation. From 2000 to 2002, he acted as scientific advisor to the Prime Minister of France, Lionel Jospin.