The 100 Greatest Leadership Principles of all Time
by: Leslie Pockell with Adrienne Avila, editors
Published by: Warner Business Books
Buy From Amazon.com
Reviewed by Al Olsen
The 100 Greatest Leadership Principles of all Time is a short little reference manual that is very well organized and very multinational. The editor, Leslie Pockell pulled quotes not only from many of historical North American greats like Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson, but he has included contemporaries like Max DePree and John Wooden.
Then the author took it one step further and found some pearls from St. Augustine, Tacitus, Plautus, and even Isaac Newton. Leslie Pockell has done a superb job in pulling leadership quotes from historic and contemporary sources and weaving them together. One source of wisdom on leadership that I found wanting in this volume was from probably the most influential leader of all time, Jesus Christ.
The book is organized into five different categories: Intelligence, Trustworthiness, Humaneness, Courage, and Discipline. There are twenty quotes given for each category. Here are some examples:
From Intelligence – “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
From Trustworthiness – “I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.”
— Robert E. Lee
From Humaneness – “Nobody rises to low expectations.”
—Calvin Lloyd
From Courage – “Self-assurance is two-thirds of success.”
— Gaelic proverb
From Discipline – “With great power, comes great responsibility.”
— Stan Lee
The topic of leadership is very broad subject. I’m sure that the editors were enriched by this research. You will indeed glean some very interesting knowledge from some very disparate sources in a very short period of time, but to live out these principles can take a lifetime.
Armchair Interviews says: Agreed.
From our armchair to yours...
