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Summary: It worked then, and it works now....
Review: Elizabeth demonstrated strong leadership skills that are directly applicable in today's world. This is a simple read, with great chapter heads and quotes. A brilliant woman long underrecognized for her contributions.
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Summary: Wow Elizabeth, Just Wow
Review: Elizabeth I CEO was a wonderful reading that inspired me a lot. My wife and I kept fighting on who gets to to have the book first, it is one of those books that you hate to leave unfinished. The lessons of Elizabeths leadership are compelling and quite inapiring.
I never thought that I would need a book on inspiration in my life, but this book indeed changed this view as well.
Excellent work.
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Summary: Simply the Best
Review: For many years, Japanese business experts have attempted to apply the code of the samurai to the rough-and-tumble world of Japanese corporate life. In fact, during the 1980s, it was often said that if you wanted to understand Japanese business you had to master early Japanese history. In his own brilliant prose, Alan Axelrod suggests that the Western historical tradition has a lot to offer today's Western businessman. The tale of history influencing the present is not owned by the Japanese, and Elizabeth I proves the point. In contrast to the recent Big Bucks film on Elizabeth I, and a slew of popular histories as well, Axelrod sticks to the no-nonsense facts. Letting Elizabeth's own record of leadership tell the tale, Axelrod does not have to invent history, exaggerate, or introduce fictional characters. The past, he argues convincingly, is a treasure trove of lessons learned and examples set. It's too precious to be left to historians alone. Axelrod was guided by this approach in his previous work on General George Patton, and he succeeds again in his analysis of Elizabeth I. A complex figure, sometimes lost in the general discussion of England's long road to democracy, Elizabeth is resurrected here as a patron of corporate excellence. Anyone interested in excellent writing and history made relevant is in for a good read.
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Summary: What the history books won't tell you
Review: highly recommended for anyone studying management or just plain interested.Sheds light on Queen Elizabeth's management of her life and country(Doing Business Without Excusses) with many examples and facts.
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Summary: in a response...
Review: I do have a comment on history content, in response to one of other reviews I read -let's keep in mind that, if it wasn't for Elizabeth I there would be no empire to pass along to James I-England would be swallowed up by either France or Spain. Surely, Elizabeth I made a few mistakes like every other monarch, but they fade out in comparison to her achievements. She truly did build an empire, and serves as a great example of a true leader.
Tudor scholar
Rating: 
Summary: A severe disappointment
Review: I read Alan Axelrod's "Patton on Leadership" last year and found the book to be a witty, informative primer on management, so I naturally looked forward to this, the second installment in his opus. I couldn't have been more disappointed. This book seems to have been thrown together in such haste that it hardly seems to constitute more than the margin notes from "Patton." The prose is tedious and labored, and the information contained within it rather trite. I'm not an expert on English history of this period and at the very least, I figured I'd learn something on this front, but even as history the book fails. Its presentation is bland, confusing, and often seems rather sugar-coated. Most irritating to me of all, however, is that the book's title is somewhat misleading. The subtitle refers to "the leader who built an empire" but all throughout the book, Axelrod coyly dances around this issue without lucidly identifying what he's talking about. He refers to the enormous empire stretching from North America to India upon which "the sun never set," but this was in the 1800s; Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, and I was curious to know what part of the empire had been initiated at that point. Yet all throughout the book, all I got was confusion and frustration on this issue. I later dusted off my old history textbook from sophomore year and found out why: The Jamestown Settlement in 1607 (along with the Pilgrims about a decade later) was the first overseas colony the British even started, and the "empire-building" phase apparently didn't begin until Cromwell's Commonwealth period, about half a century later. So by the time the Queen's reign came to a close, England hadn't even begun settling, much less initiated the "building of an empire" (unless Ireland is considered to be the start of the "empire," which if anything was a case study in mismanagement-- perhaps why Axelrod conveniently glosses over it in this book). This especially ticked me off, because I felt as though I'd wasted a whole weekend reading this book. If you're interested in a book of this type, then read "Patton on Leadership"-- don't bother with the sequel.
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Summary: Cotton candy
Review: I'm interested both in history & in business, so I was very much looking forwards to this book. Now that I've gotten halfway through, I've realized that it is basically sugar coated fluff. It's a collection of modern management homilies illustrated with cute little stories about Elizabeth I. I was hoping for a dicussion of the problems and opportunities she faced, with an in-depth discussion of how she and her people addressed them, which is not at all what is offered. It's a pity, because she did live in very interesting times and an insightful exposition could be quite valuable - perhaps someone will write the book I was hoping to read someday.If you have extra time & enjoy stories, this is worth reading, otherwise don't bother.
Rating: 
Summary: Great topic, but trite outcome
Review: In fairly short order Elizabeth I moved a kingdom from near bankruptcy to the Golden Age. She touched every aspect of her world from politics, art, religion/spirituality, to science. In light of the challenges faced by modern business leaders, Elizabeth provides an intriguing roadmap to excellence, integrity, and success; however, this book approaches Elizabeth's leadership style in a trite and shallow way, with very little analysis of her strategies or how they apply to issues faced by business leaders of our time. The book is a bathroom reader at best.
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Summary: Solid Advice with An Interesting Twist
Review: Managing a nation in the 16th century took stamina and skill for a leader of either sex during such a volatile period of exploration and conquest -- the time period also offers an excellent opportunity in which to examine successes and failures. Alan Axelrod's Elizabeth I, CEO is an interesting analysis of the strong management skills that Queen Bess brought to the task and developed in the process of ruling Britannia -- and he is adept at showing how we can apply such strengths to our own management approaches and develop new strengths, as well. Nice, too, that we can see what worked and what didn't work for Elizabeth I.
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Summary: Elizabeth I - Benchmark CEO
Review: Many history-applied-to-business books are a stretch. Their authors attempt to apply historical situations to modern day business, but the comparisons often lack relevance. Not true with 'Elizabeth I, CEO: Strategic Lessons from the Leader Who Built an Empire' by Alan Axelrod. The author provides interesting lesson's from one of Great Britain's most famous monarchs that can readily be applied to today's business solutions. The manner in which Queen Elizabeth I deals with restructuring, developing leadership and fighting the competition that are benchmarks for modern leaders. No, we all don't have Armada's to battle, but even more minor skirmishes will be easier to deal with after reading this book.
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