ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an accessible discussion of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, drawing out essential lessons for leadership one can discover in this text. It focuses on the structure of the book and then explains the core elements of Aristotle’s moral theory, including his emphasis on happiness, the concept of character and how one comes to develop it, and the meaning of virtue. Aristotle provides a treatment of 11 moral virtues in total, along with their corresponding vices. The Judeo-Christian tradition strikes at the core of an honor culture by raising humility to the highest virtue, while the essential vice – the utmost evil – is pride. For Aristotle, greatness of soul is the first summit of the virtues. Some modern scholars disagree whether the history of their relationship is accurate and, even if it is, to what extent Aristotle’s ideas genuinely informed Alexander’s own concept of leadership.
