Models of Leadership in Plato and Beyond offers a well-supported and much-needed step back from the thousands of leadership books on the market. Dominic Scott and R. Edward Freeman avoid traditional attempts to define leadership narrowly or to describe multiple leaders and then derive principles from their exploits. Instead, the authors pursue two goals. The first is to identify and analyze unique principles found in seven leadership models that Plato uses in his dialogues. These leadership models are the doctor, the captain and navigator, the artist, the teacher, the shepherd, the weaver, and the sower. After identifying principles from each model, the authors relate detailed stories of actual business, science, education, and political leaders who exemplify aspects of Plato's models.

The second goal is to explain how the leadership models capture aspects of leadership that apply in different contexts. The authors argue that Plato's models all have a “family resemblance” to leadership. For example, the doctor model of leadership, which focuses on technical expertise and benefiting followers, is useful when leading a healthcare organization or implementing political changes. The sower model, which focuses on creating original ideas and empowering others, is useful for revolutionizing the electric vehicle industry or making education available to underserved populations. The authors use the seven models to reveal aspects of leadership while acknowledging that context and goals often dictate which model is appropriate.

The leadership models come from various dialogues, with The Republic and the Gorgias as prominent sources. In The Republic, Plato uses the doctor, the captain and navigator, and the teacher models. He introduces the doctor and captain models as counterexamples to selfish and greedy leaders (labeled tyrants by Plato) who only seek their own advantage. Plato's models represent leaders who work for the advantage of others. He argues, for example, that “no doctor, insofar as he is a doctor, seeks or orders what is advantageous to himself, but what is advantageous to his patient” and he asks, “Doesn't it follow that a ship's captain or ruler won't seek and order what is advantageous to himself, but what is advantageous to a sailor?” (341e–342e, trans. Grube [Hackett, 1992]).

For each model, the authors derive key principles that leaders in similar contexts can apply. For example, leaders who adopt the doctor model work for the benefit of their followers, need technical expertise, and may find difficulty in persuading people to accept their cure (27). The authors then present exemplary leaders who exhibited these key principles. Florence Nightingale, for instance, exemplifies the teacher model which, based on Plato's allegory of the cave, instructs leaders to confront followers who are prisoners of their own comfort zones and appeal directly to their rationality (84). Nightingale brought nursing as a profession “out of the cave” and into the light using rational arguments that eventually changed the stereotypes held by doctors and society (148).

The authors present the leadership models in a candid and open manner that considers objections (e.g., how much should a leader listen to those being led) and recognizes that some models overlap (e.g., teachers and sowers). They also explain that the majority of Plato's models rely on the leader being an expert in some subject (179–80, 185).

In their efforts to present the models as practical and common among great leaders, they do not spend much time on what motivates leaders to lead in an ethical way and for virtuous ends. According to the authors, effective and destructive leaders like Hitler are tyrants and not leaders in Plato's view. Based on their interpretation, “For Plato, ethics and values are built into the very idea of leadership” (167). Their interpretation, however, does not explain what motivates leaders to adopt ethical ends and means. They explain that Plato believes that leaders should work for others and not themselves (Rep. 345c–347a), but do not take up the problem of incentives. Plato rejects the motivations of power, honor, or payment for his leaders (174–75), which means that the motivation to be an ethical leader must come from another source.

If we look for leadership motivations in Plato's models, we can broadly describe some of their foundations. In The Republic passage quoted above, Plato argues that practicing a craft like medicine or sailing commits leaders to working for the advantage of others, but not all leaders find themselves within a profession that integrates such a purpose. Leaders, however, can frame their role as a profession like a doctor, captain, or teacher. Leaders who commit to one of these profession-based models are then adopting the motive of seeking the advantage of their followers. The sower model exemplar Marie Curie not only originated big ideas and empowered others to apply her ideas, but she also framed her role as improving the world. She states, “You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful” (137). If leaders see themselves as part of an institution, role, or profession that requires certain motivations and virtues, they can avoid the temptation of greed.

Ethical leaders can also adopt an obligation to share their expertise with the community, even when they do not desire a leadership position. After narrating the allegory of the cave, Plato argues that those who leave the cave and see the light (the forms of justice and the good) must return and educate those who are still chained in the cave. A leader with expertise and training is obligated to lead the community and possibly endure hardship with the followers. Some leaders may need to be convinced: “You're better and more completely educated than the others and are better able to share in both types of life (i.e. ruling the city and studying the good). Therefore, each of you in turn must go down to live in the common dwelling place of the others. . . . And because you've seen the truth about fine, just, and good things, you'll know each image for what it is” (Rep. 520b–c). Leaders like Nelson Mandela, who exhibited the principles of the weaver model, understand that their experience of justice and forgiveness obligates them to teach and lead others. Also, leaders with similar training may be motivated to step forward so that “someone worse” than themselves will not rule them (Rep. 347c). This brief account of leadership motivation could help leaders choose a more appropriate leadership model for their circumstances.

Overall, the book offers a practical and accessible account of how Plato's ancient leadership models can inform and guide today's leaders. The leader exemplars presented with each model add a depth and personal connection for readers who are facing similar business, technological, and political challenges. Leaders are reminded that they are not alone, but are part of a historical line of leaders who were motivated to shape a more just, healthy, and inclusive world.