The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People / Moby Dick

Most universities are faced with the problem of offering courses that will satisfy humanities requirements for business majors without totally wasting everyone’s time. I’m in the process of developing a curriculum that will illustrate contemporary management theory with classic literary texts. Before getting into the deep stuff with Peter Drucker, say, or Kenichi Ohmae (“Lions & tigers & bears, Ohmae”), I think a good start-up would be close analysis of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in light of Moby Dick. A habit-by-habit outline: (1) Be Proactive: Ishmael is proactive (he wants to stave off the “hypos”). Ahab is reactive (in search of a lost leg). (2) Begin with the End in Mind: Assignment: 3-page essay on Father Mapple's sermon. Does he begin with the end (or anything) in mind? (3) Put First Things First: “Call Me Ishmael”. That’s a first thing that resonates big time! (4) Think Win/Win: Assignment: 5-page essay on whether Ahab succeeds in “win-win” by use of the financial incentive, i.e., nailing a doubloon (or whatever) to the yardarm (or whatever). (5) Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Consider Pip: Does he understand? Is he understood? (6) Synergize: Term paper: Analyze the functions of the whaleboat in terms of the principles of synergistic trans-hyper-dimensionality. (7) Sharpen the Saw: the nature of metaphor – harpoon = saw. Final topic for class discussion: Is Ahab “effective”? Is Ishmael? SPOILER ALERT: Point out that Ishmael survives. In this economy, that’s effective.

This is interesting, but wouldn't it help to talk about the conflict in 19th century New England between the demands of business and the demands of the spiritual life, and their problems with trying to reconcile the two. Some of this conflict is at the heart of the book.

This is a great idea. Moby Dick is a wonderful novel that I've read more than once and loved each time - but many people who are less enthusiastic readers of literary fiction find it tedious. A lot of business majors might fit into this category. I wonder if a shorter novel written in a more current prose style might be more exciting for your readers.

A few off-hand suggestions - by no means a complete list:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Battle of Gettysburg)
The King Must Die by Mary Renault
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (not short, but easy to read and quite popular)

Who moved my harpoon?!

Hah!