1. What do the following people/things have in common?
Richard Nixon
Napoleon Bonaparte
Blackberry
Boris Johnson
2. Match the following statements to the above personages:
a) "Did you know that his code provides the basis for current French law? There is that."
b) "Credit where it is due, he was well informed of his opponents' intentions."
c) "Like it or not, he did get Brexit done."
d) "They did make it very easy to check your emails."
3. Do you know of any famous people - who ostensibly worked for the social good - but who came 'unstuck' due to 'weaknesses of character'? Do you know of any companies that had a large part of market share, but came to grief because of shortsightedness?
4. Read article here: Fall From Grace Reading
5. Were you already aware of Carlos Ghosn? Do you know how he escaped the clutches of the Japanese legal system (he was originally in custody in Tokyo)? What do you know of the Japanese legal system? Do you think it is fair and transparent?
6. What is your reaction to the article? Is Ghosn unethical or criminal in the things he has done? Or does he - as the article seems to suggest- have a 'blind spot' regarding how others see him? Do you think he is unlucky, in that he is neither French nor Japanese, and thus can fall into behaviour that neither French nor Japanese cultures can accept?
7. Are multinational companies more likely to see this kind of behaviour, in that they operate across cultural borders? Do multinational companies need to employ 'larger than life' leaders?
8. Does not success for the greater number of people absolve any small wrongdoing? If a leader has fulfilled his mandate, shouldn't we be in a position to turn a blind eye to any personal excesses?
9. Do you accept that there is always a risk of misdemeanour when we appoint larger than life characters to fulfil a function? And that if we want extraordinary results, we should accept some of the downsides too?
10. In Greek tragedy, the hero falls as a result of 'hubris' (this word means excessive pride). After being set up for the fall, we expect a moment of 'anagnorisis' in which the hero makes an important discovery, often realising the error of their ways. Ghosn is currently in his native Lebanon where he cannot be extradited to Japan. Do you think people such as Ghosn, Nixon, and Johnson can ever change their ways?
11. Can we ever use other people's falls from grace as lessons in our own lives? Is it useful to do so? Have you ever experienced hubristic behaviour from management at work? Have you yourself ever indulged in hubristic behaviour at work?
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Situation
You are Carlos Ghosn's press secretary. You are meeting with Carlos (your teacher) in Tripoli to redact a press release which will hopefully assuage public opinion regarding the events at Nissan during Carlos's reign. Advise him on the content of the press release.
..........
Discuss quotes
“No legacy is so rich as honesty.”
- William Shakespeare
“You can’t leave a footprint that lasts if you’re always walking on tiptoe.”
- Marion Blakey
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
- Pericles
“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, but to leave behind something that will.”
- Chuck Palahniuk
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
- Benjamin Franklin
“What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”
- Bob Dylan
Student Handout PDF: Fall From Grace
Photo: Michel Ojeda