JOMC 490.

08
LEADERSHIP IN A TIME OF CHANGE
Spring 2009, Wednesday, 2-4:30 p.m.
Room 340A

Instructor: Professor Penny Muse Abernathy

919-843-4910
Cell: 914-523-9142
pennyma@email.unc.edu

Course Description and Objectives: During a time of fast-paced technological

innovation, Leadership in a Time of Change examines in depth the critical strategic
choices facing media executives and offers advanced seniors and graduate-level students
the opportunity to observe and research a media company making the transition, as well
as produce a case study on that effort.

This course is designed to introduce students to applied concepts in organizational

behavior, as well as strategic decision-making. Through weekly readings on scholarly
research on leadership and strategy, students will have the opportunity to begin to
evaluate their own styles and compare them with the styles of others in the media and
technology industries who have led a change process or corporate transformation.
Students should emerge with a nuanced understanding of the critical decision-making
skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century.

This course is designed for future business journalists, as well as for future directors and
managers in advertising and corporate communications who will be working directly
with media and technology executives – and aspire to someday lead a media or digital
enterprise.

It builds on the skills acquired in other courses. Therefore, undergraduate students should
have completed at least one of the following: Digital Media Economics and Behavior,
Economic Reporting, or Business Reporting. Graduate students should have relevant
professional experience – or completed at least one of these courses.

Course Requirements: Since this is a seminar, students are expected to attend class and
actively participate in discussions, which will be based on assigned readings and select
case studies. Students should read assigned texts and case studies in advance and come to
class ready to volunteer insights and perspectives. A well-informed future media
executive regularly reads The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times business section,
paidcontent.org, BusinessWeek, Fortune and Forbes. In addition, students should sign up
to receive updates from at least two of the following websites:
workingknowledge@hbs.edu (Harvard), gbs.columbia.edu/ideas@work
(Columbia),Wharton.upenn.edu (knowledge@wharton), mckinseyquarterly.com
(McKinsey & Co.), strategy-business.com (Booz Allen Hamilton).
Grading and Assignments:

Class Participation 20%

Leadership Profile 15%

Historical Book Report 15%

Case Study 50%

Outline (10%) -- Due March 4
Case Study with Teaching Outline, Due by April 27

In addition, students who wish to receive an “A” for the semester’s work – or the
graduate equivalent of “Honors” – should deliver to the professor in the second class
(Jan. 21) a sealed one-page letter explaining how they will earn that grade. This letter is
the first leadership exercise and is designed to help students clarify their own personal
and professional goals for this course. It will be opened and read by the professor ONLY
at the end of the semester, after the case study is submitted. Please read Chapter 3,
“Giving an A” in The Art of Possibility (see below, required reading) before composing
the letter.

Leadership Profile: In consultation with the professor, students should choose a media
or technology executive and research his or her leadership skills and style. This can be a
well-known executive – such as Steve Jobs, Meg Whitman, Punch Sulzberger or Ted
Turner. Or it can be a lesser-known, lower-ranking executive who has dealt successfully
with a major change initiative.

Students will be responsible for producing a 4-page paper examining the executive’s
strengths and weaknesses, strategic vision and effectiveness at mobilizing and
implementing organizational change. Students will also be responsible for leading a 20-
to 30-minute class discussion focusing on the executive and the company they lead.

Selection of executive due by January 28. Due date for written profile and class
discussion assigned by the professor in second half of semester.

Historical Book Report: Choose one of the following historical accounts and prepare a
2-to 3-page paper discussing the leadership skills displayed by the historical figure or
figures profiled in these books:

The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli. Oxford University Press.

1776, by David McCullough. Simon & Schuster.
April 1865, by Jay Winik. Harper Collins.
Citizen Soldiers, by Steven Ambrose. Simon & Schuster.
The Best and the Brightest, by David Halberstam. Alfred Knopf.
 In the second half of the semester, you will lead a class discussion on this book
(20 to 30 minutes), focusing especially on the leadership lessons applicable to business
executives dealing with uncertainty.

Selection of book is due by January 21. See course calendar for due date for written
report and class discussion.

Written Case Study: In consultation with the professor, you will choose a local media
company and produce a 7- to 10-page case study on a change initiative the executives are
implementing or considering. In addition, you will produce a teaching outline of one to
two pages that suggests what important leadership lessons are highlighted and illustrated
by the case study.

During the semester, you will work closely with the company you are profiling and
researching. Depending on the quality of the work you produce, you may be asked to
present directly to the company’s executives.

Selection of case study is due by January 21. Outline of case study is due March 4.
Final written case study is due April 27.

Additional Requirement for Graduate Students: Prepare a five-page Teaching Note to

accompany your case study. Work with and advise each of the undergraduates on
preparing their two-page teaching outlines.

Also, graduate students are expected to help research case studies that I am co-authoring
this semester with Yale School of Management professor Richard Foster.

Required Reading:

Good to Great, Jim Collins, Harper Business.

Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market,
Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan, Currency Doubleday.

Leading Change, John Kotter, Harvard business School Press.

The Strategy-Focused Organization, Robert Kaplan and David Norton, Harvard Business
School Press.

The Wisdom of Teams, Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith, Harvard Business School
Press.

Certain Trumpets, Garry Wills, Simon & Schuster.

Leadership on the Line, Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Harvard Business School
Press.

The Art of Possibility, Rosamund Stone Zander and Bejamin Zander, Harvard Business
School Press.

This course is designed to help you begin to acquire a “library” of seminal leadership
texts. While numerous books on leadership are published each year, these have been
chosen because the material in the book has been extensively researched and vetted, often
in an academic setting.

Required Cases:

In addition, you will be assigned six to eight case studies that we will discuss in class
during the semester. These cases will include:

Everest Simulation, September 2007

Apple, 2008
Fortune Motors, August 2008
Paul Robertson and Medici String Quartet, 2007
Infosys Consulting, 2006

Additional cases will be assigned by January 28. These cases will focus very specifically
on the special issues confronting the companies you are profiling in your case studies.

Optional Supplemental Reading:

Case Study Handbook, William Ellet, Harvard Business School Publishing

Understanding Financial Statements, Jay Taparia, Marion Street Press, Inc.

Course Calendar:

Jan. 14: Introduction: What is leadership? What is my leadership preference?

Handouts in class:
Coloring Outside the Lines, UNC-G Honors Convocation Speech, Prof.
Abernathy.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Chapter 3, “Giving an A”, The Art of Possibility, Zander and Zander

Jan. 21: Creating a Winning Strategy

Good to Great, Chapts. 1-6, Collins
Handouts in class:
Chapter 1, The Lords of Strategy, Walter Kiechel
“The Halo Effect”, McKinsey Quarterly
 Class Discussion: What Type Are You? (Results of Myers-Briggs Personality
Inventory)

Jan 28: Envisioning and Implementing Change

Leading Change, Kotter.
Case Study: Everest Simulation, Sept. 2007

Feb 4: Dealing with the Gales of Destruction

Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the
Market, Foster and Kaplan.
Case Study: Apple, 2008

Feb. 11: Staying on Track

The Strategy-Focused Organization, Kaplan and Norton
Case Study: Fortune Motors, 2008

Feb. 18: Creating a Team-Based Culture

The Wisdom of Teams, Katzenbach and Smith.
Case Study: Paul Robertson and the Medici String Quartet, February 2007

Feb. 25: Continual Renewal

Good to Great, Chapts. 7-9, Epilogue, Collins
Case Study: Infosys Consulting, May 2006

March 4: Review and Overview

Outline of Case Study Due

Break
March 18: Leadership Across Disciplines
Certain Trumpets, Wills.
Book Report on The Prince
Leadership Profile # 1

March 25: Protecting the Leader

Leadership on the Line, Heifetz and Linsky
Book Report on 1776
Leadership Profile # 2

April 1: The Boundaries of Leadership

The Art of Possibility, Zander and Zander
Book Report on April 1865
Leadership Profile # 3

April 8: The Unexpected Leader

Book Report on Citizen Soldiers
 Leadership Profile # 4

April 15: The Pitfalls

Book Report on The Best and The Brightest
Leadership Profile # 5

April 22: Discussion of the various case studies produced by students, and lesson
learned

April 27: Written Case Study due.