In September, NEOMA is beginning a new venture: a compulsory literature course for first year students on the Master in Management Programme. The students will have 15 hours of ‘Lessons from great literary texts: management, enterprise and leadership’, given by Agathe Mezzadri-Guedj, Professor of Literature in the preparatory classes. But what is its relevance? Here the course leader explains.

Generally speaking, how can literature be a source of inspiration for the students in our business school? 

It’s not immediately obvious because literature has been very critical of business! It often describes it as a monster devouring its employees. It’s the story of Jonas and the whale in the Bible, or Scylla and Charybdis in Homer’s Odyssey. Charybdis is a ferocious whirlpool that swallows up the sea, and Scylla is a six-headed monster that devours sailors. Ulysses’ crew has to face both these dangers.

The first writer to transpose this ancient torment into the world of work was Émile Zola in Germinal. He even called the coal mine Le Voreux (the glutton). And Le Voreux devoured the workers. In Fear and Trembling, Amélie Nothomb is swallowed up by the Japanese company and the lift she goes into is like a monster eating her up. In Whatever, Michel Houellebecq describes the social violence and alienation generated by the world of work. These books describe how people become machines and how we lose our humanity. Literature attempts to restore the human element.

Literature can also be a source of inspiration when writers seek solutions in the animal world. Virgil, in The Georgics, uses bees as a model. He explains how the work of the hive is organised, with each bee having a function, and with a lot of listening and communication going on. But this idea was criticised by Karl Marx. For him, it is a false notion, and there is no awareness operating in the work of bees.

And more specifically, what exactly can future managers learn from literary texts? 

Firstly, they enable us to put our finger on the problem: when exactly do we tip over the edge? At what precise moment do we turn professional by our increased efficiency and at what moment does efficiency override humanity. That is a question you could ask concerning Ulysses: was he a good manager for his crew? For him, efficiency had taken over from humanity to such an extent that he certainly achieved his objective, he got back to Ithaca, but everybody was dead: what is the human cost of achieving the objectives of the organisation? Literature asks that question and warns us of danger. 

I think literature also offers different points of view regarding specific situations. It’s good for a manager to be able to put him or herself in the shoes of other people. To go back to Ulysses, think of when he and his companions come upon the Cyclops. His companions sense the immense danger and beg him to leave. But Ulysses pays no heed to their point of view. He is very curious and is wondering what the monster looks like and whether it will give him any gifts! In fact, the only gift is the devouring of some of his companions. Ulysses obviously made the wrong decision through his lack of listening and empathy, being caught up in his own fervour.

Literature also provides more life experience for 20-year-old young people, offering them experiences beyond their own lives. It allows them to immerse themselves in the world of the workers in Germinal by Emile Zola, in the domestic sphere in Ourika by Claire de Duras, or in the business world with Amélie Nothomb or Michel Houellebecq. 

Apart from the fact that you can’t experience everything in your own life, and literature offers "other lives outside of your own", it helps you to stand back and gain perspective so you can analyse situations you haven’t experienced but you have read about (as opposed to not being able to see the wood for the trees, to put it in familiar fashion). 

What is the point? Often, you can be firmer or more considered when you have used anticipation before facing a real experience. Afterwards, on the other hand, literature can provide consolation, maybe "repairing" (a bit) "the world" as Alexandre Gefen says in one of his books. Both complement each other and a life made up solely of real, personal experiences, without any literary or artistic representations, would be very difficult (could such a life even be possible?) whereas a life made up only of literary/artistic experiences but no real experience ...that does not seem possible either.

We’ve talked a lot about Ulysses as a leader. Which other great figures are of interest for the managers of the future? 

I like comparing the Greeks’ idea of leadership with that of the Romans. In Greece, the chosen leader is Athena, who gave her name to Athens. In the Iliad, she defends the Greeks against the Trojans. Athena is all cunning and wisdom and when she uses force, it’s always in a quite considered and strategic way. That tells us a lot about Greek culture. For the Romans, the chosen leader is Mars (inspired by the Greek Ares). Where the Greeks find his methods brutal, the Romans see in them a form of patriotic zeal and collective energy that results in a culture of youth, order and discipline. These are two very different visions of leadership. 

The way the two Gods are represented reveals a lot about the way leadership is accepted in a culture. Similarly, there is a form of leadership accepted in every business that is related to its culture and rooted in its origins. It’s just as well to be aware of it.