Success often depends on the strength of a single quality: leadership. Winston Churchill is universally recognized as one of the 20th century's great political leaders and his words ring just as true in the world of commerce. A wise, witty, and inspiring leader, Churchill ran Great Britain like a great corporation. Perhaps the finest book on practical leadership ever written. -- Brian Tracy Churchill on Leadership demonstrates that the principles that guided Churchill ably translate to private industry today. Author Steven F. Hayward gives strong evidence that, if you remove Churchill from his political context, he would have the resume to be among the great business leaders of any age. Churchill: - was a financier (as chancellor of the Exechequer) and labor negotiator (as home secretary) - managed a large transportation network (as head of the British Navy) and far-flung property holdings (as colonial secretary) - persevered through bankruptcies and other financial disasters - conceived and introduced innovative new products over the opposition of his colleagues, and reorganized major production operations in the midst of crisis. With wit and insight, Hayward reveals Churchill's secrets for business success from assembling and inspiring a first-rate team to preparing a wise budget, from communicating a vision to structuring effective meetings, from acting decisively to rebounding from a failure. Laced with epochal events from the historical stage, enlivened with stimulating speculation, and leavened with wit, Churchill on Leadership is both an enjoyable read and a thought-provoking lesson on leadership.
This book about Winston Churchill is my all time favorite. It avoids mud slinging, which is so common among other books about him. Hey, every hero has detractors, even Superman. There is a wealth of quotes by Churchill and other objective assessments of his actions during the leader's life. I challenge anyone else to accomplish what he did under the same circumstances. While Great Britain's leaders were heading for the hills, Churchill assumed the most challenging tasks and right, wrong or indifferent took action and did his best. This is a wonderful book about those accomplishments and the author did an excellent job of writing about them! This gem is a book worth buying, reading and re-reading many times
Leadership Succinctly Put!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
Although Sir Winston's leadership skills manifested themselves in the military realm, his skills can easily be transferred to the business/ private sectors. The author used great examples and wonderful quotes to convey his message. His method of ending each chapter by focusing on the leadership skills discussed in the chapter was very helpful. I do not normally read this type of book, but I enjoyed it thoroughly and found some of the skills applicable even to me, a Management Analyst. Of course with the subject being Sir Winston, how can one go wrong.
A manager's opinion
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago
I have been a manager for over 10 years, and have worked in different industries and different countries. And I gladly admit I still have a lot to learn concerning management. This book talks about concepts we know we should all be applying, such as learning from mistakes, responsibility and organization, attention to details as well as to a master plan, communication, etc. However understanding how Churchill put these concepts to work is fascinating. I did not know that much about Churchill in the first place, perhaps that is why I enjoyed the book so much. It is a nice change from CEOs' biographies. And yes, I am putting some of what I read to work, so it was worth my time and money !
A top job in making a how to do book from a biography
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
As we all know too well, in the flow of flotsam from academe, there is seldom material that is both readable and edifying. Often neither quality is present. This book, Churchill on Leadership, scores high in both categories. Hayward's obvious in depth knowledge of Churchill and his times enabled him to organize the vast storehouse of material available into a useful and unique way of teaching the leadership principles Churchill personified. God knows the lack of leadership today evidences the extreme need for what Hayward has wrought.
A new perspective brings Churchill to life
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Steven Hayward uses a new perspective to illuminate the achievements of Winston Churchill. Even though we all know of Churchill as a great leader, he has become such a titanic figure that in some respects his human dimension has been lost. Hayward recaptures this, particularly the drive, the self-confidence and the persistence in the face of adversity. Also, because he is British, we tend to see him in a cigar and brandy snifter environment. Hayward shows that he was a thoroughly modern man, once of whose accomplishments was as an outstanding hands on leader and administrator, with, among other things, the ability to make decisions of great weight with only partial information - the conversion of the British fleet to oil before World War I being only one of them. I was thrilled once again at Churchill's eloquence, courage, foresight and determination. I agree with one of the other reviews that the blurbs at the end of each chapter are a bit trivial, but that is, itself, a trivial criticism. This is an outstanding book, easy to read, and one that will stay with you as a "biography" of Churchill more than a management manual.
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