Mutiny and Its Bounty
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Leadership Lessons from the Age of Discovery
Patrick J. Murphy and Ray W. Coye
Price: $64.00
Violent mutiny was common in seafaring enterprises during the Age of Discovery—so common, in fact, that dealing with mutineers was an essential skill for captains and other leaders of the time. Mutinies in today’s organizations are much quieter, more social and intellectual, and far less violent, yet the coordinated defiance of authority springs from dissatisfactions very similar to those of long-ago shipboard crews. This highly original book mines seafaring logs and other archives of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century ship captains and discovers instructive lessons for today’s leaders facing challenges to their authority as well as for other members of organizations in which mutinous events occur.
The book begins by examining mutinies against great explorer captains of the Age of Discovery: Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Sebastian Cabot, and Henry Hudson. The authors then identify lessons that entrepreneurs, leaders, and other members may apply to organizational insurrections today. They find, surprisingly, that mutiny may be a force for good in an organization, paving the way to more collaborative leadership and stronger commitment to shared goals and values.
“Mutiny and Its Bounty provides a unique perspective on leadership and management issues through the lens of practitioners who faced similar challenges centuries ago. Murphy and Coye offer rich histories of the day-to-day challenges faced by explorers from Columbus to Hudson and in doing so illuminate the causes and effects of mutinies and mutinous behavior that can inform today's leaders.This book is a novel means to extract meaning from the Age of Discovery, an era of immense importance to our world. It has become part of my library of works on leadership."—Thad Allen, Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard (retired)
"This fascinating book is indeed an outstanding contribution to the science of management and deserves a prominent place on the bookshelf of leaders, members of enterprises, and organizations. Murphy and Coye show very competently and using captivating language how “history’s swords have become today’s words.” Drawing from the richness of the Age of Discovery, when new worlds were given to the world, the authors demonstrate that mutinies in the past and transformations in today’s organizations have significant parallels."—Tessaleno Devezas, University of Beira Interior, and author of Pioneers of Globalization
Publication Date: March 19, 2013
9 b/w illus.