© Roger M Tagg 2012
Welcome to FROLIO – a new attempt to merge philosophy and the "semantic web" . This website is under continuing development.
Each chapter in this book takes a novel and discusses the character of its main protagonist. These protagonists all seem to get into serious difficulties of one sort or another. The idea is to think about what they protagonist's failings - as well as good points - are.
| Author | Title | Question JLB raises from this book | |
| 1 | Arthur Miller | Death of a Salesman | 'Do I have a good dream?' |
| 2 | Chinua Achebe | Things Fall Apart | 'How flexible is my moral code?' |
| 3 | Allen Gurganus | Blessed Assurance | 'Are my role models unsettling?' |
| 4 | F Scott Fitzgerald | The Love of the Last Tycoon | 'Do I really care?' |
| 5 | Joseph Conrad | The Secret Sharer | 'Am I ready to take responsibility?' |
| 6 | Louis Auchincloss | I Come as a Thief | 'Can I resist the flow of success?' |
| 7 | Robert Bolt | A Man for all Seasons | 'How well do I combine principles and pragmatism?' |
| 8 | Sophocles | Antigone | 'What is sound reflection?' |
| 9 | JLB's summary | Judging Character |
I only have a couple of highlights from the individual chapters, but a few more from the summary at the end of the book.
| Chapter | Page | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 134 | "... in a world demanding chronic overachievement, Tony's obligation is to underachieve." |
| 8 | 176 | "... good reflection, for individuals and especially fro leaders, is the equivalent of sitting at the centre of a spider's web and vigilantly sensing what is happening along many different dimensions of a situation." |
| 9 | Some of the heroes' problems are: protecting tradition at all costs (chapter 2); damaging one's own health (chapter 4); and trying to enforce peace after civil war (chapter 8) | |
| "... introspection done badly can leave individuals trapped in their own worlds." | ||
| On 'solipsism': Michael Eisner (ex CEO of Disney) "had enthroned himself as the omnipotent and infallible monarch of his personal Magic Kingdom". | ||
| The danger of external comparisons, as in 'how much is he worth?', and refusal to praise: "ceaseless competition puts everyone ... on an endless maddening treadmill". | ||
| People can do better if they have experienced dire tests of character. | ||
| Schlumberger chief Riboud wanted 'fighters' ready to face change. | ||
| [RT: Isn't leading a team where you have face-to-face communication with all team members quite different from 'general management' or 'supreme leadership', when you don't? |
It's all really about management. The value is in looking at these fictional narratives to get some insight of some of the things that might cause a manager to come unstuck.
Index to more highlights of interesting books
Some of these links may be under construction – or re-construction.
This version updated on 28th May 2012
If you have constructive suggestions or comments, please contact the author rogertag@tpg.com.au .