Review of Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn (Hardcover)

This book is about the leadership lessons that can be learned from studying some of the greatest western leaders of the ancient world. Those six great leaders were Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar and of course, Xenophon. Wait a minute, who was Xenophon and if he was so great why don't I recognize his name? Feeling a bit ignorant I asked my adult sons at dinner if they knew whom I was speaking about since they'd both had excellent Classical Educations while attending six years at Boston Latin School. My question produced nothing but blank looks. That made me feel a little better, but didn't answer my question.
Xenophon (430-354 BC), was "a young scholar from Athens, and is an example of a reluctant leader who came forward in time to crisis to fill a void. He found himself in command of an army of Greek mercenaries--mostly Spartans--trapped in the middle of the Persian Empire in the region known today as Iraq. Xenophon's mission was to organize these soldiers, motivate them, and get them home alive." Upon hearing this information, one of my sons quickly volunteered, "Oh, I get it, X is famous for actually having an Exit Strategy to get his army out of Iraq!" Touché, son!
The best part of this book is the brief over-views of the cultures and eras of these leaders and learning about their exploits. That part of the book was absolutely a page-turner and fortunately most of the book is comprised of these historic profiles and the lessons that could be garnered from their styles of leadership. I very much enjoyed learning about Xenophon, who is given credit in this book for showing Alexander the Great that there was a crack in the military might of the Persian Empire and Alexander made full use of that information as soon as he could. The weakest portion of the book is taking those examples of leadership techniques and comparing them to the founders and CEO's of major companies. That was just a bit much of an awkward reach for this reviewer. Fortunately, I suspect both the co-authors also realized that this comparison was somewhat weak and didn't dwell on it too much. As fabulously successful as some of the contemporary CEO's may have been, Sam Walton and Wal-Mart or Ray Kroc and McDonalds really don't stand up side-by-side with these former kings, emperors and generals. If those ancient leaders made a mistake thousands, maybe millions of their followers and perhaps they themselves were killed and the history of the world was changed forever. Another example of what happens to the major political players in the ancient world involved the death of Alexander's father King Philip. When the latter was struck down by an assassin,
Alexander and his mother immediately removed any political enemies including King Philip's new wife and infant son. He didn't say "My way or the highway" as was often-used in the book to describe a modern corporation management style, "Alexander ordered the executions of anyone he considered a rival.He spared his older half brother, but many members of the Macedonian aristocracy were put to death, including Philip's new wife and infant son, who were roasted alive over hot coals."
It was bites of reality like the above that made me feel the comparisons of those ancient conquerors and modern business builders and managers didn't belong on the same playing field.
If Dennis Kozlowki, started believing his own public relations press releases and dipping into company funds to enjoy a lavish, imperial lifestyle, he simply ended up disgraced, broke and in jail--not poisoned by his own generals, as was Alexander the Great. When Hank Greenberg was voted out of AIG by his board of directors for some of the same management mistakes made by Julius Caesar, the penalty wasn't exactly equal. In fact, the AIG Board of Directors didn't realize that they were doing Hank a great favor in light of what happened to AIG not long after their actions. Hank might have been able to avoid the company's fall.
John Prevas makes the history in the book come alive and I even ordered another of his best known books "Hannibal Crosses the Alps." ( Please feel free to read my review of that title). He is a true classical scholar who combined his scholarly study with his mountain climbing hobby and actually traveled the various routes believed to have been used by Hannibal when he totally surprised the Romans by bringing his entire army including the War Elephants over the Alps in mid-winter. By actually hiking the various very dangerous routes, Dr. Prevas pinpoints the only route that might have been passable for Hannibal's army. His on-the-ground research and writing remind me very much of another couple of historians who also liked to test their theories before publishing them. Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison of "Christopher Columbus, Mariner" adventures and Thor Heyerdahl of "Kon-Tiki" and "Ra and Ra II" fame, were the other two writers that popped into my mind as I read this excellent volume.
This is a well-done book that includes a short introduction by former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.There are obvious lessons to be learned from studying history and from studying the leaders of past history.Many of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century were students of history including Harry S. Truman and Winston S. Churchill. They too were looking for helpful leadership advice and styles. I enjoyed it even though I felt the basic premise was a bit of a stretch. The book is still a good read.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn (Hardcover)