Leadership in Game of Thrones

Winning power in Westeros is hard, but holding power is much harder. The book analyzes strategies of leadership in the popular television series as an inspiration for today's uncertain times and our corporate world, bringing together research on TV series with management studies. The medieval fantasy world presents emotional and larger-than-life leadership archetypes: charismatic, authentic, privileged, masculine, female, motherly, lonely, romantic and disabled leaders. They are constructed and deconstructed. Hands, penises, and heads are chopped off. In this way, the series also celebrates the power of those who follow or resist, and always influence their leaders.

This book is a translation of the original German 1^st edition Leadership in Game of Thrones by Brigitte Biehl, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2020. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machinetranslation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.

The Content

• Introduction: Popular Culture and Leadership
• Authenticity (Eddard Stark)
• Forms of Capital (Robb and Catelyn Stark, Petyr Baelish)
• Phallus (Yara Greyjoy, Varys)
• Women (Sansa Stark)
• Loneliness (Cersei Lannister)
• Charisma (Daenerys Targaryen)
• Romance (Jon Snow)
• Disability (Tyrion Lannister, Brandon Stark)
• Conclusion: Leadership is relational

The Author

Dr. Brigitte Biehl (Biehl-Missal) is Professor for Media and Communication Management at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences,School of Popular Arts (formerly SRH Hochschule der populären Künste) in Berlin, Head of B.A. Creative Industries Management and M.A. International Management "Creative Leadership", Director of the Institute for Continuing Education (IWK). Her background is in theater, film and media studies and business studies; she widely publishes on aesthetics, art and management.