If Harry Potter Ran General Electric
Leadership Wisdom from the World of the Wizards
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
However important the magic of wands, brooms, cauldrons, potions, and spells might be to the vivid story telling of [the Harry Potter] books, it is merely incidental to their philosophy of life…. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone in a business context say something like “I wish I could just magically solve all these problems” or “I’ll try my best to deal with this, but remember, I’m no magician.”
What is particularly interesting is that the most difficult problems that the people in Harry’s world face are rarely solved with just magic, but rather by the use of intelligence, reasoning, planning, courage, determination, persistence, resourcefulness, creativity, fidelity, friendship, and many other qualities traditionally known by the philosophers in our world as virtues…. The meaning of life is not to be found in elixirs or incantations, secret words or exotic objects with esoteric powers, but in real moral virtue and the magic of what it can help us do….”
J. K. Rowling’s novels about Harry Potter and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have captured the imaginations of people everywhere. In IF HARRY POTTER RAN GENERAL ELECTRIC, bestselling business author Tom Morris (IF ARISTOTLE RAN GENERAL MOTORS) uncovers the values and timeless truths that underlie Rawling’s hugely popular books and illuminate the lessons they offer to all of us in our careers and daily lives.
But, you say, Harry Potter lives in a world of magic? What can we possibly learn to apply to our own careers and everyday lives? Morris shows that the most difficult problems Harry and his friends face are rarely solved by the use of magic alone. Rather, they are conquered by intelligence, reasoning, determination, creativity, friendship, and a host of other classic virtues–the very qualities, in fact, that make for success in every aspect of our lives.
Blending an array of provocative examples from the novels with thought-provoking commentary on contemporary management practices, IF HARRY POTTER RAN GENERAL ELECTRIC offers readers a master’s course on leadership and ethics, told in an engaging and insightful way.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Following his business bestseller If Aristotle Ran General Motors, former philosophy professor Morris piggybacks on the popularity of J.K. Rowling's novels, conjuring philosophical parallels between the heroics of her fictional world and success in the corporate realm. He parses her stories for what they might tell us about the importance of virtues and ethics in the business world, referring a little to Aristotle and Kierkegaard for philosophical weight, plus a dash of eloquent advice from GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt for real-life relevance. In Morris's view, Harry Potter is the embodiment of courage "doing what's right, not what's easy" and the author delineates five steps to this virtue (e.g., "surround yourself with support") for real-world application. A natural leader, Harry takes after Headmaster Dumbledore, an "Aristotelian figure" and "the essence of leadership," a quality Morris compares to alchemy, since good leaders "transform ordinary people into great performers." Though Morris writes with grace and imagination, this chatty meditation may feel redundant for Harry Potter fans, miss the mark with readers uninitiated to the world of the wizards and disappoint those looking for concrete discussion of real business situations.
