Customer comments on this selection.
 How George Washington exemplified leadership
This book is rich with colorful vignettes, interesting facts and fascinating lore about George Washington, the first president of the United States. Author James C. Rees (writing with Stephen Spignesi) is both blessed and burdened with an abundance of facts, stories, quotes and tidbits of trivia about Washington. The author works mightily to correlate illustrative incidents from Washington's life with character lessons for today's corporate executives. Unfortunately, the connections are often a little forced, although the narrative remains interesting. Some of the things that Rees includes are fresh and valuable, such as his sidebar about Washington's Revolutionary War spy ring. But others are less compelling, like the verbatim rundown on all 110 of the civility rules that the Jesuits developed in the 1500s to instruct young men. They have passing relevance, in that as a child Washington copied them in longhand so he could memorize them. Yet many of the arcane dictums seem to have little to do with the famed general's life or character. Still, this intriguing, easy read provides a fond, useful lens for seeing Washington as a remarkable leader and a leadership role model on many levels. If your goal is to learn about leadership, getAbstract believes that George Washington has a lot to teach.
 Should be required reading for every grammar school
For anyone who has mused "what is missing from Americans" today, this book is it. It is a small portrait of the common sense and value sensed lifestyle of our colonial betters. Other reviews muse this to be a simple book but that is the issue. For all the advanced thought of complex philosophical theory of man's "wisdom", the world is a mess because none of our great "geniuses" agree on anything.
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br /A meaningful life is not so complex few people CAN understand it,
br /it is so straightforward few WILL understand it.
br /Leave the philosophers in closed rooms where they can do the least damage.
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br /Washington's leadership precepts are so valuable to instill at an early age as to be required reading for every American grammar school.
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br /See for yourself
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debbie
A very good overview of quality leadership traits and of the outstanding leadership (seemingly forgotten in today's world) of George Washington.
Great book on Washington as a leader
br /This is a terrific book that serves an important purpose: to teach by example. In the first part of this 3-part book, the authors break down the art of leadership into 15 traits and virtues that leaders must manifest, and then, in a very unique way, they cite incidents, quotations, and anecdotes from the life of George Washington (sourced in most cases from Washington's own writings) to illustrate how the Father of America employed each character trait.
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br /The second part of the book is a look at Washington's "Rules of Civility," along with annotation for select rules illustrating how it was employed - or ignored - in modern times.
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br /The third part of the book will really be an eye-opener for lots of people: it is a lengthy, meticulously researched look at George Washington as an entrepreneur. Many people are not aware that Washington had an enormous fishing enterprise at Mount Vernon, or that he was a distiller, or an aggressive real estate investor, or that he routinely experimented with crops to improve productivity.
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br /There's no denying George Washington was a leader. He was, after all, the United States' first President. But now, with GEORGE WASHINGTON'S LEADERSHIP LESSONS, we are given a comprehensive look at just how he exercised his leadership, and how we can learn from his efforts. Recommended.
 Think Before You Buy
This analysis of leadership is written is such a dumbed-down style that I find it hard to believe any sentient being will find it useful or entertaining. Perhaps it will be bought in bulk by some multinational fast food chain for its entry-level managers.
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br /George Washington was truly the indispensable man of our country's early history. The authors of this book, trying to capitalize on the public's apparent mania for "business leadership" books, do no service to the memory of this great American.
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