I decided to review this book as
it is the latest in a series by the author, a historian who makes the bold
attempt to use historical figures to illustrate learning for modern business
leaders. I chose Roosevelt because I am interested in American history
and knew him to be a fascinating and controversial figure; but if you prefer
more of a UK orientation you can choose Winston Churchill or Elizabeth I.
And even further afield in country and period, there are similar books on
Ghandi and Julius Caesar.
The structure of the book is
clever. You receive a potted history of the life, followed by a series of
chapters in which several learning themes are explored, while producing lots of
anecdotes and examples to build on each theme. In the case of Roosevelt
(this is Theodore who was president at the beginning of the 20th century,
not his cousin Franklin who was President in the Second World War) you read the
potted history and cannot help going ‘wow’. How did he do all that? He
became President by accident following the assassination of his predecessor
McKinley and proceeded to change America in all sorts of ways, some good, some
more questionable.
But this review is not to provide
a history lesson but to answer the question, does this combination of history
and business learning work in this type of book? The answer is yes, it
works to a certain extent for those who are interested in both. It is a
relatively painless way of improving your knowledge of history while developing
your thinking about successful leadership in business. I think, however,
that the reader should have an enquiring mind when reading the lessons for
today’s business world, because some seem too contrived and simplistic.
Though I liked the structure of
the book into seven chapters - each showing an aspect of his life - I would
have liked the lessons to be more nuanced and less didactic. By the end
of the book we had lesson number 136 and the text and tone resembled too much
one of those tiresome American books on personal self-improvement. I
would also like to have seen more caveats about the applications to business
and the lack of these gives the impression that the author is more of a
historian than he is a business guru.
Yet there are some clear
parallels that convinced me of the relevance to modern leadership.
Roosevelt was a risk taker who constantly referred to risk as a positive factor
in decisions, looking at the opportunities rather than the pitfalls.
‘There is no reward without risk’ was his constant message. And he was an
early exponent of the ‘Management by Walking Around’ theory, rejecting
organisation charts and talking to people at all levels. He reformed the
New York police in the early phases of his career by walking the streets of the
City, gaining the respect of the lower levels and gaining the knowledge and
determination to break the bureaucracy.
As I read through the chapters I
began to wonder where I had heard these messages before and it came to me
towards the end; the book is quite similar to the style and content to ‘In Search of Excellence’, the all-time
best selling management book of the 1970s by Peters and Waterman. Their
approach was to look at how successful business organisations behave; these
books look at how successful historical figures have behaved, albeit in a
different time period and context.
The outcome is very
similar. You learn a lot more about the world, your thoughts are
stimulated but there is no automatic transfer to the secrets of success in
modern business. But I guess that applies to any management book.
In Search of Excellence went out of favour because many of the featured
companies fell from grace and were only successful for a limited period;
at least the reputations of Roosevelt, Churchill, Ghandi et al have stood the
test of time.
Buy the book;
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