1. Why is "leadership" about "being" rather than "doing"? Why can't "leadership" be simply doing the same sorts of things "great leaders" have done previously or acting in manner congruent with the traits generally ascribed to "great leaders"? Why isn't leadership simply about acting a certain way or doing certain things?
2. What leadership strengths do you have that you over-emphasize? What leadership potential strengths do you under-utilize? What do you need to do to increase your leadership effectiveness?
3. Quinn suggests that the "normal state" involves leadership hypocrisy, in which a leader espouses a need for change while concurrently working hard to stay in his/her comfort zone. Why would leaders do this? What would be different if they changed?
4. Of all of the characteristics of "bad bosses," which one do you think is most damaging to the morale and productivity of the workplace? Why?
5. Do you think it is realistic to expect you can change either your boss's behavior or that of your coworkers? If not, what options does that leave you?
6. Why do jerks and assholes often seem to succeed in organizational settings? Does this make sense to you?
7. Discuss a situation in which you felt you were very persuasive and got your point across. How did you feel afterward? Did it seem natural to you? If not, why not?
8. Why are we more risk seeking when there is a high probability for potential losses?
9. How does the anchoring effect influence our decisions?
10. Is the trend toward data-driven decision-making good or bad for consumers? Why?
11. What are gut feelings and what are they based upon? Discuss a situation where you made a decision based on a gut feeling and list the advantages and disadvantages of making your decision based on gut feelings (versus complex calculation).
12. How do ethical blind spots affect our decision-making?
13. What is outcome bias?
14. What is an authentic leader? How does an authentic leader distinguish him/herself from other leaders?
15. Why is a balanced life important to a CEO? Don't most successful CEOs appear to devote all of their waking hours to company business as the ultimate method for achieving success?
16. What steps could a manager take to help instill meaning into the lives of employees?
17. Overall, what is your assessment of the significance and relevance of Frankl's ideas in the workplace? Are they appropriate and useful?
18. Frost suggests that "There is always pain in the room." Do you agree? If so, how can you tell? In other words, how does pain occur and what behaviours or speech patterns are indicators that pain is present?
19. Is it a taboo to talk about organizational pain? If so, why?
20. What is the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance? How can it be applied to help understand the attitudes that people possess and the behaviours they exhibit?
21. Think of a time in your life when you had to deal with a major change. Which character from "Cheese" did you most act like? How? How were you different from that character?
22. Is "play" in the workplace a new discovery? If it is, why hasn't it appeared in a major business publication until very recently?
23. Has Pfeffer been guilty of creating a "straw man" argument, in which he unfairly accuses organizations of naively falling for "conventional wisdom"? Explain.
24. Which managerial posture(s) do you normally employ? Why?
25. Do you have enough information and understanding to actually engage in evidence-based management? What else would you need to know in order to implement this decision-making process?