Kafka and Havel: Leadership, Economics, and Power

At Hebrew University in 1990, Havel made the bold claim that, “I sometimes feel I’m the only one who really understands Kafka.” Where do these two minds meet and where do they diverge? Professor Leah Tomkins, author of the ground-breaking book, Franz Kafka and the Truths of Leadership (2024) will join literary scholar doc. Mgr. Zuzana Říhová on stage for a discussion about absurdity, the economics of attention, and the role of power in leadership.

Tomkins argues that Kafka’s extraordinary foresight in understanding that power – including the power over life or death – often hinges on the ‘attention grab’ that distorts our personal, social, political and organisational relations. Havel too found himself in the seat of political power, struggling with its ambiguous and delusive temptations. As leaders struggle with their own shrinking attention spans, as well as with how to direct their supporters’ attention in an increasingly polarised world, there are surprisingly practical ideas and tactics one can take from Kafka’s work, which Havel claimed to understand so well.