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Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
Mountains Beyond Mountains
Chapter 2 mentions the inspiring example of Dr. Paul Farmer, anthropologist, medical
doctor, and cofounder of Partners in Health, an international health agency. The book by
Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains, richly details Farmer’s upbringing and
maturation into the leader he is today. This leader has inspired thousands to do community
service and helped thousands more to regain health.
Even for people not going into the medical field, his story gives us a lot of insights into:
• Power and politics;
Assign the entire book to be read over the academic term. It can be read and studied in five
sections. The reading can be supported by ample YouTube clips of Farmer discussing his
ideas and speaking to college groups, to give students a sense of his personality. Any of the
following learning experiences can be utilized:
1. Quizzes on the material after students have completed each part. Sample quizzes for
Parts I and II are below.
3. Full class discussion or writing assignments:
• How did Paul Farmer choose his life, or did his life choose him?
• How did his childhood upbringing shape him?
• “Wherever he is, he is missing somewhere.” What does this mean?
• Why is imitating Paul Farmer not the right thing to do?
4. Leadership theory applications, for discussion or writing.
• Which of the six power bases does Paul Farmer use?
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
• What leadership traits does Paul Farmer have?
• What leadership skills does Paul Farmer have?
• How does Paul Farmer balance the task and relational requirements of
leadership?
• How does Paul Farmer motivate other people?
• What leadership theory(ies) best explain(s) Paul Farmer’s effectiveness?
Why?
Mountains Beyond Mountains Quiz--Part 1
1. Farmer spends 8 months of the year in Haiti. In what U.S. city does he teach the other
four months? (Boston)
2. What does ID stand for? (Infectious Diseases)
3. What does Zanmi Lasante mean? (Partners in Health)
4. What is the per capita income in Haiti per day? ($1)
5. 25% of Haitians die before the age of ______. (40)
6. In Haiti, what is the #1 killer of adults? (TB)
7. What is included in the full package of services for patients at Zanmi Lasante?
(Medicine, food, vitamins, transportation, follow-up)
8. What is a blan? (White person)
9. What is the national food staple in Haiti? (Rice/millet)
10. Who was Haiti’s first democratically elected president? (Jean Bertrand Aristide)
11. Why is it important to study Paul Farmer in a leadership class? (To learn how a
calling develops; to see how leadership can emerge even under a dictatorship; to see
how leadership can inspire others; to see how Paul Farmer handles the task and
relationship dimensions of leadership; to see how the world is becoming increasingly
globalized and U.S. leadership theories may need to be adapted to be effective in
other cultures; how leadership and self-actualization are intertwined.)
Mountains Beyond Mountains Quiz--Part 2
1. Where did Farmer live as a boy? (Alabama, Florida)
2. What was the herpetology club? (Childhood club PF started with siblings and
friends)
3. Where did Farmer attend college? (Duke)
4. What thinker was most influential on Farmer’s intellectual development during
college? (Mathematician Virchow) Why? (His comprehensive vision)
5. What reason brought Farmer to Haiti for the first time in 1983? (Sr. Julianna’s work
with Haitian farm laborers in North Carolina)
6. Who is Ophelia Dahl? (Friend, lover, coworker at PIH)
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
7. What is the central tenet of liberation theology? (God has a preferential concern for
the poor)
8. Who is Tom White and how is he connected to Paul Farmer? (Farmer’s first major
benefactor)
9. According to Farmer, what is the “first line of defense” in treating TB in Haiti?
(Vaccination, protected water supplies, sanitation, trained villagers)
10. How does Farmer explain his encyclopedic memory? (“I date everything to
patients.”)
