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.
Table of Contents
Contents Preface Introduction: The World of Politics and the World of Commerce–What Business Leaders Can Learn from the Great Statesmen Chapter 1: The Keys to Understanding Churchill Chapter 2: The Executive Churchill: A Brief Survey of His Career in Public Office Chapter 3: Confronting Failure and Learning from Mistakes Chapter 4: Churchill on Administration: Responsibility and Organization Chapter 5: Churchill on Personnel: Managing People and Managing Yourself Chapter 6: The Power of Decision: Churchill's Thought Process Chapter 7: Churchill the Communicator Chapter 8: Churchill's Personal Traits: The Completion of Leadership Chapter 9: Churchill the Inventor and Innovator Chapter 10: Substance Over Style–Moral Purpose, Destiny, and the Force of Personal Leadership Appendix: A Biographical Sketch of Churchill's Executive Career Source Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index
Steven F. Hayward is a recognized authority on both Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill, having written The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964–1980, and Churchill on Leadership. He has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the San Francisco Chronicle, National Review, Reason, and Policy Review, among other publications. A Ph.D. in American studies, he is F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Senior Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. He divides his time between Washington, D.C., and California.
Praise
Praise
"Perhaps the finest book on practical leadership ever written." — Brian Tracy "Winston Churchill once said, 'We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow worm.' His business acumen, grounded in candor, glows in this uncommon management guide." — Cathy Madison, Utne Reader "This book is must reading for today's business leaders and entrepreneurs." — Fred W. Mackenback, retired president and CEO, The Lincoln Electric Company "Churchill on Leadership demonstrates that the principles that guided Churchill ably translate to private industry today . . . [I]f you remove Churchill from his political context, he would have the résumé to be among the great business leaders of any age." — Business Times