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The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn
1st Books Library
June 2009
On Sale: June 16, 2009
320 pages ISBN: 0307408442 EAN: 9780307408440 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Based on an extraordinary collaboration between Steve
Forbes, chairman, CEO, and editor in chief of Forbes Media,
and classics professor John Prevas, Power Ambition Glory
provides intriguing comparisons between six great leaders of
the ancient world and contemporary business leaders. • Great leaders not only have vision but know how to build
structures to effect it. Cyrus the Great did so in creating
an empire based on tolerance and inclusion, an approach
highly unusual for his or any age. Jack Welch and John
Chambers built their business empires using a similar
approach, and like Cyrus, they remain the exceptions rather
than the rule.
• Great leaders know how to build consensus and motivate by
doing what is right rather than what is in their
self-interest. Xenophon put personal gain aside to lead his
fellow Greeks out of a perilous situation in
Persia–something very similar to what Lou Gerstner and Anne
Mulcahy did in rescuing IBM and Xerox.
• Character matters in leadership. Alexander the Great had
exceptional leadership skills that enabled him to conquer
the eastern half of the ancient world, but he was ultimately
destroyed by his inability to manage his phenomenal success.
The corporate world is full of similar examples, such as the
now incarcerated Dennis Kozlowski, who, flush with success
at the head of his empire, was driven down the highway of
self-destruction by an out-of-control ego.
• A great leader is one who challenges the conventional
wisdom of the day and is able to think out of the box to
pull off amazing feats. Hannibal did something no one in the
ancient world thought possible; he crossed the Alps in
winter to challenge Rome for control of the ancient world.
That same innovative way of thinking enabled Serge Brin and
Larry Page of Google to challenge and best two formidable
competitors, Microsoft and Yahoo!
• A leader must have ambition to succeed, and Julius Caesar
had plenty of it. He set Rome on the path to empire, but his
success made him believe he was a living god and blinded him
to the dangers that eventually did him in. The parallels
with corporate leaders and Wall Street
master-of-the-universe types are numerous, but none more
salient than Hank Greenberg, who built the AIG insurance
empire only to be struck down at the height of his success
by the corporate daggers of his directors.
• And finally, leadership is about keeping a sane and modest
perspective in the face of success and remaining focused on
the fundamentals–the nuts and bolts of making an
organization work day in and day out. Augustus saved Rome
from dissolution after the assassination of Julius Caesar
and ruled it for more than forty years, bringing the empire
to the height of its power. What made him successful were
personal humility, attention to the mundane details of
building and maintaining an infrastructure, and the
understanding of limits. Augustus set Rome on a course of
prosperity and stability that lasted for centuries, just as
Alfred Sloan, using many of the same approaches, built GM
into the leviathan that until recently dominated the
automotive business.
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