Profiles in Leadership

Rating:
Summary: A Wealth of Leadership "Nuggets"
Review: Is this an encyclopedia? Or a biographical dictionary? Or a history of leadership? Or an "A to Z guide to power"? Actually, it is all of the above. Axelrod organizes his material within 14 categories which range from Character Model to Visionary. The common denominators among the 158 different leaders' lives and careers are "significance of achievement and excellence of execution." Each individual entry is organized according to name of subject, with birth and death dates; the leadership category (or categories) to which he or she is assigned by Axelrod; leadership achievements (a bullet list); a concise life narrative; and leadership lessons revealed in the subject's life and career. For many of the entries, Axelrod also includes key leadership quotations, "In His Own Words" or "In Her Own Words." The 158 subjects are arranged in alphabetical order, from Abbas the Great (1571-1629) to Yang Chen (died 1604). For obvious reasons, Axelrod includes entries devoted to Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth I, Mohandas Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon I, and George Washington.

Of special interest to me, however, are the entries which focus on leaders about whom I previously knew little, if anything. For example, Gnaeus Julius Agricola (37-93), "Brilliant Roman conqueror of Britain who wisely leavened conquest with a high degree of toleration"; Alfonso VIIII (1155-1214), "One of the great warrior-rulers of medieval Spain [who] achieved overwhelming victory against the forces of Islam on the Iberian Peninsula"; Stephen Decatur (1779-1820), "early U.S. naval leader whose skilled heroics established a naval tradition of excellence and valor"; and Tecumseh (ca. 1768-1813), "Combining charisma and persuasive reasoning, the Shawnee chief united several tribes to mount a powerful resistance to white settlement during the American Revolution, the Indian Wars of the Old Northwest, and the War of 1812."

Axelrod has done a brilliant job of organizing and then presenting his material. There are so many different ways by which to read it. For example, entries grouped within one of the 14 categories such as Improviser (which has 21) or pairs of adversaries such as Napoleon I and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and/or Ulysses Simpson Grant and Robert Edward Lee. Or perhaps leaders within an historical period such as that of the Roman Empire (55 B.C. to 410) or World War Two. Or perhaps only military or religious leaders; or more specifically, only American presidents. I have approached the material in all of these ways and will return frequently to re-read portions of this volume for both edification and pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM THE LIVES OF GREAT LEADERS!
Review: This is a monumental and absorbing collection of 200 brief profiles of the lives of great leaders, highlighting their achievements. More than just a collection biographies, the author has classified each leader into three or more key leadership type categories, such as innovator, motivator or strategist, listing them accordingly in a special index. Each profile is broken down into: 1) name, birth and death dates; 2) leadership categories; 3) achievements; 4) life profile, with emphasis on career; and 5) a bullet list of leadership lessons, plus a few quotations in some instances. The leaders chosen for this immense work are drawn from all areas of life-politics, military, religion-and range across the historical landscape, from Hammurabi and Julius Ceasar to Margaret Thatcher and Colin Powell. We at Stern's Management Review Online find this a gem of a book for anyone who seeks a greater understanding of the nature of successful leadership-or who enjoys gaining insights from the lives of those who have shaped history .

Rating:
Summary: Not much for real content
Review: You really wont learn much about leadership from this expensive tome. Its just a compilation of short sketches about people who are known for leadership. Nothing in depth at all. I regret having spent the money on this book. I should have looked it over more closely before buying it.