Thomoya Parris
Professor Kamal
Manhattanville College
1 April 2014
MVU-L-TIP-CS 15
I NTRODUCTION
The purpose of this paper is to examine the case study of Faust from the
Hartwick Classic Leadership Cases series. This case study focuses on Faust, a character from one of Johann Wolfgang’s Goethe’s Faust. Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe was a German writer and politician. His body of work included epic and lyric poetry in which the Faust legend inspired the famous story of 1587, The
Faust Book, a collection of tales about magicians and wizards. The Faust character was implied to be two characters, a professor and a magician but became one in which the standard plot was set.
F ACTS
The important facts which are relevant to an examination of this subject are as follows:
Goethe’s Faust involves an agreement in which the devil, Mephistopheles, will take control of Faust’s soul only if he can satisfy Faust’s restlessness. If
Mephistopheles is able to get Faust to remain at the same place and in the same condition then he will have his soul in his next life. The story begins with a prologue in Heaven between God and Mephistopheles in which they make a pact.
In Part I of the story, Mephistopheles disguises himself as a professor and student and attempts to give Faust different offerings. In Part II, five acts occur that make up Faust’s’ experiences. First, the marriage of Faust to the Helen of
Troy and birth of their son Euphorion. Second, the rejoining of Faust as an old man who becomes very successful. Third, Mephistopheles seizing the opportunity to satisfy Faust’s obsessiveness with land ultimately leading to theft and murder. Fifth, Faust has the chance to know “Care”, one of the Four Grey
Women, but refuses to recognize her so she blinds him. Lastly, Mephistopheles preparing of Faust’s grave.
At the end of the excerpt, Mephistopheles claims victory. However, it turns out to be a vision of a society that might be, rather than what Faust actually experienced. God sent angels for his servant Faust, which upset
Mephistopheles because he was convinced he would take control of Faust’s life.

Faust in the end was allowed entrance into the gates of Heaven, where he was given a mentor, an angel known as Gretchen.
A NALYSIS
Based on the above facts, one can arrive at the following possible opinions about Faust’s leadership style:
Faust did not obtain much knowledge so he used Mephistopheles as a way of escape from his troubles. While Mephistopheles felt it was necessary to get Faust to break out of his comfort zone, he wanted Faust to confirm their agreement with a drop of his blood. However, Faust questions Mephistopheles and his choice not to trust his word for it. This case study depicts Faust as an obsessive character in which his drive for power leads him to make a foolish pack with the devil.
In a more general regard, this case study explores leadership issues of ethics, morals, situational stress, and addiction to power. There are several leadership lessons to be learned from Faust’s leadership style. First in the case study, there is the idea individual dimension of leadership. Faust has demonstrated that traits that lead to success can also lead to failure. Too often, do leaders misuse their powers and begin to fall. This is an example of distinguishing self from role as seen in Ronald Heifetz’s book Leadership Without
Easy Answers. Faust became too caught up with others and their perceptions of him rather than having control over his own personal world. Lesson two, expressed in this case study is the group dimension of leadership and lastly, the situational dimension of leadership.
C ONCLUSION
In conclusion, one can thus state that this case study was effective in comparing Faust to the business world. Leadership requires a plan and the goal needs to be to create change. In the process of creating change, the leader has the ability to control its success rather than saying yes to the first option that comes their way. When in position of power and stressful situations like Faust, he initiated action that was detrimental to himself and his family.
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Hartwick Humanities in Management Institute, Faust. Oneota, NY: Hartwick Humanities in Management
Institute. 1995 Print