The "Moral Complexity in Leadership" series of cases and teaching notes help business instructors harness the power of fiction to prepare students for the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers. Meaningful fiction challenges students intellectually and emotionally; it reveals the inner worlds of human players and enables learning that can be difficult to access through case studies, commentary, or reporting. Through literature, students will wrestle with the kinds of problems they will face as leaders looking to make courageous decisions aligned with their moral codes. The works in this series represent a wide range of settings, viewpoints, and cultural frameworks; the characters are complex and contradictory, and the systems within which they operate (whether family, organizational, or cultural) influence them in varied ways. They have been taught to executive, full- and part-time MBA student audiences for many years. The series aims to increase students' understanding of moral frameworks and enhance their skills in facilitating and participating in healthy and productive dialogue about complex and provocative issues. In this installment of the series, "Moral Distress and Rationalizations," students will examine Allan Gurganus's "Blessed Assurance," about a 59-year-old man named Jerry who narrates this novella by looking back on a part-time job he held when he was 19 years old, a role that still plagues him with guilt 40 years later. Working for Windlass Funerary Eventualities, Inc., his assignment was to collect weekly funeral insurance premium payments from elderly, impoverished Black people in the fictional small town of Falls, North Carolina. Windlass's practices were predatory: Customers were required to make payments every week or forfeit all compensation for their loved ones' funeral expenses, no matter how many hundreds or even thousands of dollars they had already paid. Jerry tells readers he needed the job to pay for college business courses and to help his parents, who suffered from "brown lung" (byssinosis) after working in a cotton mill for 30 years. Jerry tells the story because he still "feels bad about what went on," and his wife says, "Telling somebody might help." Moral Complexity in Leadership students have consistently found Gurganus's novella deeply resonant. Jerry's complicity in an unethical system over which he has little power and his tortured decision-making and rationalizations about whether to continue or to quit echo situations many students face. Even for those who have not yet encountered such situations, the story likely will be relevant soon.

The "Moral Complexity in Leadership" series of cases and teaching notes help business instructors harness the power of fiction to prepare students for the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers. Meaningful fiction challenges students intellectually and emotionally; it reveals the inner worlds of human players and enables learning that can be difficult to access through case studies, commentary, or reporting. Through literature, students will wrestle with the kinds of problems they will face as leaders looking to make courageous decisions aligned with their moral codes. The works in this series represent a wide range of settings, viewpoints, and cultural frameworks; the characters are complex and contradictory, and the systems within which they operate (whether family, organizational, or cultural) influence them in varied ways. These cases have been taught to executive, full- and part-time MBA student audiences for many years. The series aims to increase students' understanding of moral frameworks and to enhance their skills in facilitating and participating in healthy and productive dialogue about complex and provocative issues. This installment of the series, "Hubris and Humility," examines the short story "Dead Men's Path," by the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. In the story, Michael Obi, the new headmaster of the Ndume Central School, hopes to modernize the school and surrounding community, both of which are deeply rooted in traditional ways and customs. However, he ultimately pays a high price for his "misguided zeal," which did not take into consideration the context or the interests of the school's stakeholders. Obi's experience offers powerful lessons to leaders tempted to implement their ideas in--and impose their values on--organizations or communities before taking the time to listen and learn. It highlights what can happen when leaders ignore the risks of hubris and fail to recognize the limits of their perspective.

The "Moral Complexity in Leadership" series of cases and teaching notes help business instructors harness the power of fiction to prepare students for the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers. Meaningful fiction challenges students intellectually and emotionally; it reveals the inner worlds of human players and enables learning that can be difficult to access through case studies, commentary, or reporting. Through literature, students will wrestle with the kinds of problems they will face as leaders looking to make courageous decisions aligned with their moral codes. The works in this series represent a wide range of settings, viewpoints, and cultural frameworks; the characters are complex and contradictory, and the systems within which they operate (whether family, organizational, or cultural) influence them in varied ways. They have been taught to executive, full- and part-time MBA student audiences for many years. The series aims to increase students' understanding of moral frameworks and enhance their skills in facilitating and participating in healthy and productive dialogue about complex and provocative issues. This installment of the series examines Raymond Carver's "A Small, Good Thing," in which married couple Howard and Ann find comfort from an unexpected source after losing their son. In the story, their child is hit by a car on the morning of his birthday and later dies. As his parents grieve, they receive threatening phone calls from a baker who is angry that Ann never picked up the cake she ordered. Once the baker discovers their son has died, he apologizes and they talk into the morning of loneliness and grief. Carver's story examines how humans sometimes fail to communicate effectively due to misinterpreted context.

The "Moral Complexity in Leadership" series of cases and teaching notes help business instructors harness the power of fiction to prepare students for the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers. Meaningful fiction challenges students intellectually and emotionally; it reveals the inner worlds of human players and enables learning that can be difficult to access through case studies, commentary, or reporting. Through literature, students will wrestle with the kinds of problems they will face as leaders looking to make courageous decisions aligned with their moral codes. The works in this series represent a wide range of settings, viewpoints, and cultural frameworks; the characters are complex and contradictory, and the systems within which they operate (whether family, organizational, or cultural) influence them in varied ways. They have been taught to executive, full- and part-time MBA student audiences for many years. The series aims to increase students' understanding of moral frameworks and enhance their skills in facilitating and participating in healthy and productive dialogue about complex and provocative issues. This installment of the series, "Hubris, and Humility," examines the great ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles's play Antigone, about a young Theban princess's defiance of the state-personified in her uncle, Creon, the king of Thebes-in her struggle to bury with honor her brother who was slain in a civil war. Antigone is loyal to her brother and shows courage in speaking up for him; Creon cannot understand why anyone would make such an emotional decision. Antigone s story warns organizational leaders that hubris can drive them to simplistic solutions when situations demand an appreciation of complexity, moral humility, and thoughtfulness. From Creon, leaders witness the-in this instance, dire-consequences of ignoring input from multiple points of view, especially when others' perspectives are uncomfortable or inconvenient.

The "Moral Complexity in Leadership" series of cases and teaching notes help business instructors harness the power of fiction to prepare students for the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers. Meaningful fiction challenges students intellectually and emotionally; it reveals the inner worlds of human players and enables learning that can be difficult to access through case studies, commentary, or reporting. Through literature, students will wrestle with the kinds of problems they will face as leaders looking to make courageous decisions aligned with their moral codes. The works in this series represent a wide range of settings, viewpoints, and cultural frameworks; the characters are complex and contradictory, and the systems within which they operate (whether family, organizational, or cultural) influence them in varied ways. They have been taught to executive, full- and part-time MBA student audiences for many years. The series aims to increase students' understanding of moral frameworks and enhance their skills in facilitating and participating in healthy and productive dialogue about complex and provocative issues. This installment of the series, "Loyalty and the Cost of Excellence," focuses on the story told in Kazuo Ishiguro's prize-winning novel The Remains of the Day: that of Stevens, a butler in an English country house in the leadup to World War II, who exerts his emotional energy exclusively on his work duties while sublimating not only knowledge of his employer's Nazi sympathies but also personal relationships. The tale shines a light on several moral issues: what can happen when one gives complete loyalty to an individual or a possible undeserving organization or cause; the potential costs of sacrificing a well-rounded life to the pursuit of professional excellence; the limitations of having a "moral code" that is not accompanied by moral awareness, moral intention, and moral action.

The "Moral Complexity in Leadership" series of cases and teaching notes help business instructors harness the power of fiction to prepare students for the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers. Meaningful fiction challenges students intellectually and emotionally; it reveals the inner worlds of human players and enables learning that can be difficult to access through case studies, commentary, or reporting. Through literature, students will wrestle with the kinds of problems they will face as leaders looking to make courageous decisions aligned with their moral codes. The works in this series represent a wide range of settings, viewpoints, and cultural frameworks; the characters are complex and contradictory, and the systems within which they operate (whether family, organizational, or cultural) influence them in varied ways. They have been taught to executive, full- and part-time MBA student audiences for many years. The series aims to increase students' understanding of moral frameworks and enhance their skills in facilitating and participating in healthy and productive dialogue about complex and provocative issues. In this installment of the series, "Empathy," we examine Ken Liu's short story "The Paper Menagerie," in which the biracial son of a Chinese immigrant mother and a White native-born American father internalizes the racist attitudes and comments of those around him and tries to fit in with the majority cultural norms by rejecting his Chinese heritage and his mother--and his subsequent realization of their value. The story highlights issues of dislocation and pressures to conform that can mean a loss of identity; the personal impact of racist attitudes and remarks; and lack of empathy and curiosity about others' points of view and background.

The "Moral Complexity in Leadership" series of cases and teaching notes help business instructors harness the power of fiction to prepare students for the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers. Meaningful fiction challenges students intellectually and emotionally; it reveals the inner worlds of human players and enables learning that can be difficult to access through case studies, commentary, or reporting. Through literature, students will wrestle with the kinds of problems they will face as leaders looking to make courageous decisions aligned with their moral codes. The works in this series represent a wide range of settings, viewpoints, and cultural frameworks; the characters are complex and contradictory, and the systems within which they operate (whether family, organizational, or cultural) influence them in varied ways. They have been taught to executive, full- and part-time MBA student audiences for many years. The series aims to increase students' understanding of moral frameworks and enhance their skills in facilitating and participating in healthy and productive dialogue about complex and provocative issues. In this installment of the series, "Empathy," we examine Jhumpa Lahiri's short story "Mrs. Sen's," about an 11-year-old American boy who spends his after-school hours at the apartment of his babysitter, an Indian woman married to a university professor. The author's frequent theme of what she has called the "tension between alienation and assimilation" are highlighted here, as well. The story gives students the opportunity to discuss deep themes such as sacrifice for one's own or a partner's career; coming to terms with a bicultural life and managing the expectations of one's home family and friends; facing a lack of empathy and curiosity about one's points of view and background; and how the simplest of human connections can transform an individual's experience.

The "Moral Complexity in Leadership" series of cases and teaching notes help business instructors harness the power of fiction to prepare students for the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face throughout their careers. Meaningful fiction challenges students intellectually and emotionally; it reveals the inner worlds of human players and enables learning that can be difficult to access through case studies, commentary, or reporting. Through literature, students will wrestle with the kinds of problems they will face as leaders looking to make courageous decisions aligned with their moral codes. The works in this series represent a wide range of settings, viewpoints, and cultural frameworks; the characters are complex and contradictory, and the systems within which they operate (whether family, organizational, or cultural) influence them in varied ways. They have been taught to executive, full- and part-time MBA student audiences for many years. The series aims to increase students' understanding of moral frameworks and enhance their skills in facilitating and participating in healthy and productive dialogue about complex and provocative issues. In this installment of the series, "Greed," we examine Leo Tolstoy's "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" This classic tale of a man who forfeits everything in his pursuit of more land gives students an opportunity to discuss how comparison and escalating acquisitiveness (greed) affect them in their professional and communal circles. It also creates an opportunity for meaningful discussion of ways to identify and manage the human tendency to want more.