Rating: 
Summary: A GREAT business gift idea
Review: An easy flowing read, this book is fun AND interesting. Anybody with an interest in the Civil War and involved in business will really enjoy this book(it would make a GREAT client gift). Wether anyone can apply the lessons to their life\business is up to them, but it is a flat joy to read. The tying of the characturistics from the Generals to the business leaders makes it doubly fun. Tom hits the mark beautifully. Being a CPA I really enjoyed the business aspect, but I am glad it concentrates more heavily on the Civil War.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT business gift idea
Review: An easy flowing read, this book is fun AND interesting. Anybody with an interest in the Civil War and involved in business will really enjoy this book(it would make a GREAT client gift). Wether anyone can apply the lessons to their life\business is up to them, but it is a flat joy to read. The tying of the characturistics from the Generals to the business leaders makes it doubly fun. Tom hits the mark beautifully. Being a CPA I really enjoyed the business aspect, but I am glad it concentrates more heavily on the Civil War.
Rating:
Summary: finally a business book that says something
Review: I am not a big fan of business books -- most have lots of lessons and rules and few examples beyond the ones I already know.Leadership Lessons from the Civil War takes a different tact at this whole genre -- combining great insights on business success with real life examples from the past that still resonate today. Definitely worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Great book! Provocative and fascinating!
Review: I couldn't put it down. A real page turner. The Civil War stories were compelling and fascinating to read. The lessons in leadership were insightful and inspiring. But most interesting was the way the book profiled ordinary people--then and now--who were thrust into extraordinary situations, and how they reacted to the challenge. Some well, some disasterously. Pairing Civil War leaders and current business leaders made for great reading and real lessons that I can apply in my business career. I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Leadership Lessons fron the Civil War
Review: I love history because you can see man's stregnths and weaknesses and learn from them. This book shows us both civil war and simular present day successes and failures. This is a quick read because it keeps your attention with the historical facts. I went back and re-read it so I could do a more technical read for life application. This is two books in one and well worth getting.
Rating:
Summary: Great Insight for Current & Future Leaders
Review: I was very impressed by this book. It's a pretty quick read, but it hammers home the key aspects of leadership using a forgotten source - the Civil War. I was surprised at the parallels that can be drawn from situations 150 years apart, but the key requirements for success in the new internet economy: speed, decisiveness, use of technology, changing the rules, etc., are even better understood by giving them a little space from current affairs and comparing them to mid-1800s history. This is a great book to give to a management team of a startup or a big organization alike - it's as inspiring as it is educational.
Rating: 
Summary: The War of the Blue and the Grey Suits
Review: Imitation is the sincerest form of benchmarking. The explosion of interest in leadership has encouraged managers, and therefore authors, to seek out models to study, admire, and ultimately emulate. And when the supply of glorious leaders of the present dries up - is there anything more to say about Jack Welch? - the search turns to the past. Vanderbilt and Carnegie have received their due (cf. Masters of Enterprise, reviewed elsewhere in these pages). So has Patton, and Leonardo da Vinci. Even Machiavelli has had his day in the sun, albeit a sun that shines a cold and withering light. So perhaps it was inevitable that someone would produce _Leadership Lessons of the Civil War_. But it wasn't inevitable that it would be good. More ink has been spilled recounting the Civil War than blood was spilled during it, and there's no shortage of tedious and unimaginative histories of the War Between the States. Tom Wheeler, however, has hit upon a winning formula: vigorously concise battle narratives, coupled with tales of modern business, all under the rubrics of nine leadership lessons. The lessons themselves may appear self-evident - "Yesterday's Tactics Make Today's Defeats", "To Be a Leader, You Must Lead" - but Wheeler selects his examples wisely and fits, rather than forces, the anecdotes to the morals. This is a book about men (exclusively) who lead: men like Ulysses S. Grant and Herb Kelleher, Stonewall Jackson and Ted Turner. Most of the modern exemplars are drawn from the world of technology and communications, not surprising when the author has been president of cable or telecommunications industry associations over the last twenty years. The Civil War leaders, on the other hand, came from as varied trades as teaching rhetoric, running a railroad, and clerking for a tannery, with a healthy batch of West Pointers thrown in. Facing the challenges of battlefield conflict, some proved stubborn, cowardly, arrogant, or reckless; others exhibited the sort of successful leadership that corporations spend fortunes to attract. And though few Civil War generals, colonels, and captains articulated their management philosophies, they do exemplify a particular model of leadership: bold, empowering, innovative, decisive, drive-from-the-front leadership. This is not everyone's model. Arguably it's a very male approach, aggressive and self-confident, not unlike the one often touted in the similarly male world of professional sports. And some of the modern examples Wheeler chooses stretch the parallelism to the breaking point; whether the "Disney's America" PR disaster truly mirrors General Ewell's over-caution at Gettysburg is open for debate. But if you accept the premise that we can still learn from the incommunicable experience of the Civil War, then _Leadership Lessons_ will be thought-provoking, entertaining, even inspiring. Like the infinite tragedy the author describes, its truth is marching on.
Rating:
Summary: Simple and direct
Review: Its not the detailed analysis that some might expect. The author identifies several principles and shows by example how they affected key engagements in the Civil War and draws parallels to modern business cases. While detail may be lacking, he gets his points across, which is refreshing, since most "comprehensive" analyses sometimes seem to revel in the details, losing the reader along the way. My only peeve is that illustrations and maps could have been used to give us "pictures worth a thousand words" people a better sense of scale.
Rating:
Summary: Finally a book that discusses REAL leadership!
Review: Over the last few years, I have read all kinds of books on sales and mamagement. After reading 3 or 4 books, I realized that the same theme was being discussed in each book. I wanted more. I wanted to learn how to get more with less. How to challenge my sales force to go to the next hill. I began a study of people who I felt had done this. I started reading about civil war generals. I have to admit that I just "happened" on this book. Tom Wheeler has done a phenomenal job in showing how todays leaders can benefit from leaders in our history. This book is in my office and will be picked up from time to time to refresh my self on the lessons that are discussed.
Rating:
Summary: Finally a book that discusses REAL leadership!
Review: Over the last few years, I have read all kinds of books on sales and mamagement. After reading 3 or 4 books, I realized that the same theme was being discussed in each book. I wanted more. I wanted to learn how to get more with less. How to challenge my sales force to go to the next hill. I began a study of people who I felt had done this. I started reading about civil war generals. I have to admit that I just "happened" on this book. Tom Wheeler has done a phenomenal job in showing how todays leaders can benefit from leaders in our history. This book is in my office and will be picked up from time to time to refresh my self on the lessons that are discussed.
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