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Title: CERTAIN TRUMPETS: THE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP by Garry Wills ISBN: 0-684-80138-8 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 09 May, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: weLEAD Book Review from the Editor of leadingtoday.org
Comment: Wills has a keen sense of the importance of followers to leadership. In the introduction to the book he states plainly "The leader most needs followers". He goes on to explain that in reality followers "have a say" in what they are led toward! The theme of Certain Trumpets is that a successful leader doesn't just trumpet or sound their own certain message, but instead they sound a specific call to others capable of following. He believes that leaders need to understand their followers more than followers need to understand them! What is Garry Wills basic definition of a leader? "One who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by the leader and followers". In other words, coercion of others is not leadership, it is just power.
With this introduction in mind the rest of the book consists of Wills discussion of individuals who have possessed leadership in various ways. The author believes that different leaders should be considered notable because of their own goals rather than their personalities, which is the most common perspective. As a result of this perspective, Wills does not treat leadership as a single thing, but mentions sixteen various kinds of leadership within the book. He also goes on to discuss various subdivisions within the sixteen kind's. Certain Trumpets attempts to define these distinctive types of leadership by using examples that range from Franklin Roosevelt (Electoral Leadership) to Dorothy Day (Saintly Leadership). To make this exploration interesting, and to provoke thought, he also provides an antitype character in contrast to each distinctive type of leader presented. It is Wills hope to exemplify the individual's characteristics by providing this contrast. Wills doesn't think we lack leaders today, but sufficient followers. He refers to this as the "real problem with leadership". Certain Trumpets is easy to read, stimulating and creative enough to look at leadership from a different lens.
Rating: 1
Summary: Garbage, worst on the subject
Comment: This book is a mess. The thesis presented in the introduction is a rambling essay on the importance of followers and historical forces in leadership, which might leave the reader less informed about leadership than before he/she read it. What's worse is that the intro has nothing at all to do with the rest of the book (which is marginal in it's own right). The case studies are way too short and are made even less informative by Wills habit of not even mentioning the leader until five or six pages of nonsense. My overall feeling of this book is that it was poorly researched and badly written. I wonder (in all seriousness) whether Wills knows anything at all about some of the people he writes about. Skip this one. I suggest Lincoln on Leadership instead: it provides the rudiments of leadership with clear, well researched examples.
Rating: 2
Summary: A Certain Miss
Comment: Good concept to discuss different types of leadership with good and bad examples. However, most of the work seems to be on the positive examples with the anti-types being included as an afterthought. Nearly all chapters are weak developments of leadership style with the notable exception being the one on Harriet Tubman. Additionally, both the types of leadership styles discussed and the people chosen to represent them appear to fit the author's preferences rather than true representations of leadership styles and leaders. This book was an easy read and parts were even enjoyable but the content was not as substantive as I had hoped.
The best recommendation that I can make is to check this one out of a library instead of purchasing it.
(review written by a life-long student of leadership with a library full of leadership texts.)
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Title: Developing Employees Who Love to Learn by Linda Honold ISBN: 0891061509 Publisher: Davies-Black Pub Pub. Date: 15 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: The Book of Leadership Wisdom : Classic Writings by Legendary Business Leaders by Peter Krass ISBN: 0471294551 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 11 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Annie McKee, Richard E. Boyatzis ISBN: 157851486X Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Rules & Tools for Leaders by Perry M. Smith, Major General Perry M. Smith ISBN: 0399527869 Publisher: Perigee Pub. Date: 02 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Why Don't You Want What I Want? How to Win Support for Your Ideas without Hard Sell, Manipulation, or Power Plays by Rick Maurer ISBN: 1885167563 Publisher: Bard Press Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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