Profiles in Leadership [Hardcover]

Ph.D., Alan Axelrod (Author), Alan Axelrod (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2002

Whether one is a born leader or someone who develops leadership skills over time, learning from the successes of the past is essential to gaining command, power, and respect. Washington steeped himself in Caesar's Gallic Wars. Patton read everything he could on Napoleon. Churchill reveled in the study of Elizabeth 1.

In Profiles in Leadership, Alan Axelrod has culled the mountains of biographies on history's greatest leaders, from ancient times to the present, to create an A-Z guide to power. Offering insight and guidance on the most important classifications of leadership -- such as Conqueror, Innovator, Problem Solver, Profit Maker, Strategist, Visionary, Systems Creator, Leverager -- each profile has been specifically selected as a lesson in leadership. Along with a list of each leader's achievements, Axelrod provides a concise, readable narrative of the subject's career, the leadership lessons offered by the subject, and his or her essential leadership qualities. Covering everyone from Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, Sam Houston and Colin Powell, this outstanding reference takes the broadest possible view of leadership and crystalizes it into essential models of power and success.

At once informative and practical, Profiles in Leadership is perfect for all achievers in search of proven leadership models.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Axelrod is a renowned historian, biographer, and business writer. His two most recent books on leadership, Elizabeth I, CEO and Patton on Leadership were both BusinessWeek bestsellers. He is also the author of many other management-related titles, as well as several works of military history and military biography.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Press; 1st edition (January 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735202567
• ISBN-13: 978-0735202566
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,143,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wealth of Leadership "Nuggets", December 23, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Profiles in Leadership (Hardcover)

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.

5.0 out of 5 stars IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM THE LIVES OF GREAT LEADERS!, November 14, 2002

By 

Gerry Stern "Stern's Management Review Online" (Culver City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Profiles in Leadership (Hardcover)

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 .

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not much for real content, June 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Profiles in Leadership (Hardcover)

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.