THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT ..........................10753$ $$FM 07-15-0411:21:11 PS PAGEi This page intentionally left blank THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT Enduring Leadership Lessons from the Man Who Created an Empire Lance B. Kurke, Ph.D. American Management Association NewYork(cid:127)Atlanta(cid:127)Brussels(cid:127)Chicago(cid:127)MexicoCity(cid:127)SanFrancisco Shanghai(cid:127)Tokyo(cid:127)Toronto(cid:127)Washington,D.C. ..........................10753$ $$FM 07-15-0411:21:12 PS PAGEiii SpecialdiscountsonbulkquantitiesofAMACOMbooksare availabletocorporations,professionalassociations,andother organizations.Fordetails,contactSpecialSalesDepartment, AMACOM,adivisionofAmericanManagementAssociation, 1601Broadway,NewYork,NY10019. Tel.:212-903-8316.Fax:212-903-8083. Website:www.amacombooks.org Thispublicationisdesignedtoprovideaccurateandauthoritative informationinregardtothesubjectmattercovered.Itissoldwith theunderstandingthatthepublisherisnotengagedinrendering legal,accounting,orotherprofessionalservice.Iflegaladviceorother expertassistanceisrequired,theservicesofacompetentprofessional personshouldbesought. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Kurke,LanceB. TheWisdomofAlexandertheGreat:enduringleadershiplessons fromthemanwhocreatedanempire/LanceB.Kurke. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-8144-0820-6 1. Alexander,theGreat,356–323B.C. 2. Leadership. I. Title. DF234.2.K87 2004 938(cid:1).07(cid:1)092—dc22 2004009486 (cid:1)2004LanceB.Kurke. Allrightsreserved. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. 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Printingnumber 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ..........................10753$ $$FM 07-15-0411:21:12 PS PAGEiv CONTENTS Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Map of Alexander’s Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx Re´sume´ of Alexander the Great . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii Introduction: The Four Leadership Processes . . . . . 1 CHAPTER 1 Leadership Process One: Reframing Problems . . . . . 3 1:DefeatingaNavyonLand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2:BattleattheRiverHydaspes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3:SuppressingtheRevoltatThebes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 4:OnPossessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 5:OnFoundingCities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 6:Mutiny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 7:TrustandLoyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 8:HowtoCaptureanImpregnableStronghold . . . . . . . . . . 37 9:LogisticsIsUnderappreciated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 10:CrossingtheRiverHydaspes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 11:ConservativeAdviceForsaken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 ConcludingThoughtsonReframingProblems . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 v ..........................10753$ CNTS 07-15-0411:21:15 PS PAGEv vi CONTENTS CHAPTER 2 Leadership Process Two: Building Alliances . . . . . . . 55 12:AftermathoftheBattleattheRiverHydaspes . . . . . . . . . . 57 13:RoyalHostages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 14:OnMarriageandLeadinginaMulticulturalWorld . . . . . . 65 15:BattleatGaugamela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 ConcludingThoughtsonBuildingAlliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 CHAPTER 3 Leadership Process Three: Establishing Identity . . . 77 16:Succession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 17:OnKillingYourChildhoodFriend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 18:OnHeroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 19:OnLifeandDeath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 20:ReverenceforPredecessors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 21:OnTransportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 22:SycophancyorObeisance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 23:ALackofVision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 24:Alexander’sLettertoDarius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 25:TheDeathofDarius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 ConcludingThoughtsonEstablishingIdentity . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 CHAPTER 4 Leadership Process Four: Directing Symbols . . . . . . 111 26:UtterDestruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 27:IllnessatTarsus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 28:ReignofTerror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 29:LeadingfromtheFront . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 30:CuttingtheGordianKnot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 31:BattleatGranicus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 32:SleepingBeforetheBattleatIssus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 ..........................10753$ CNTS 07-15-0411:21:16 PS PAGEvi CONTENTS vii 33:Ablutions,Celebrations,andOtherCorrectBehavior . . . . . 135 34:CrossingtheGedrosianDesert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 ConcludingThoughtsonDirectingSymbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 CHAPTER 5 Concluding Thoughts About Leadership . . . . . . . . . 143 CHAPTER 6 Concluding Thoughts About Alexander . . . . . . . . . . 149 Appendix: A Brief Chronology of Alexander’s Life . . 155 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 ..........................10753$ CNTS 07-15-0411:21:16 PS PAGEvii This page intentionally left blank FOREWORD Alexander the Great as a leadership model for the modern world? Dr. Lance Kurke brings to life the heroic exploits of this most extraordinary leader and derives from them clear and concise lessonsfor thosewho aspire to betoday’s effec- tive leaders. Trulygreatleaderschangetheworldaroundthem.They instill in their followers a cohesive identity and clear pur- pose. They treat difficult problems as addressable opportu- nities. Whether it involves a historical figure or the modern business organization, the leadership process creates sus- tained meaning, shared interpretation, and joint action in the organization. This is what Dr. Kurke defines as the process ofenactment. In his hands, enactment derives from four leadership processes: reframing problems, building al- liances, establishing identity, and directing symbols. Taken together, these four processes create new realities. They in- fluence the choice of priorities and partners and create unity through shared understanding of the importance of chosen actions. The Wisdom of Alexander the Great is a superbly read- able book that rewards its reader with thought-provoking lessonsapplicabletocurrentbusinessproblems.Itiswritten for the busy executive, manager, ormilitary leader in that it is a collage of short self-contained stories that can be sa- ix ..........................10753$ FRWD 07-15-0411:21:19 PS PAGEix