Introduction of RP

Introduction

   

“Gordian knot” is one of the famous episodes of Alexander the Greats, which shows his wisdom and quick-witted tact. The legendary of Gordian knot is following. At Gordium (the capital of ancient Phrygia) there was an ancient wagon and its yoke was lashed to a pole whose ends were hidden. According to legend it could only be loosed by the future conqueror of Asia. Alexander tried to untie it. When he failed, he pulled out his sword and cut it in two. (Cawthorne 24) Thunder and lightning that night was interpreted as a sign of pleasure from the gods, helping spread the story around the Europe, which remains in English cliché today “Cutting the Gordian knot” (Bose 125). J.M. O’Brien commented that “There is no question that Alexander possessed extraordinary powers of concentration and responded to "impossible" challenges with exceptional insight” (69).

Leadership is essential for various situations today not limited to a country's monarchy. It is especially prominent in business and many leaders lead their companies and expand their business such as Bill Gates of Microsoft and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. It seems there is a great difference between us and the king of the emperor who lived more than two thousand years ago. We can learn, however, much about leadership from Alexander the Great and apply strategies to our way of solving various problems we faced.

The purpose of this paper is to try to apply Alexander’s leadership to our way of dealing problems, organizing our teams and creating image of a leader especially in business. It will first show history and background at him and his age where his leadership grew up. It will then reveal how Alexander exercised his leadership especially at these three point- solving problems he is faced by thinking about it from different point of view, organizing a team and creating consciousness of solidarity among the members, and creating good image of a leader by using symbols. Finally it will try to analyze his leadership and apply his strategies to business scenes in practical ways.