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

by Steve Forbes, John Prevas, Rudolph Giuliani (Foreword)

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.

Genres: History, Leadership, Business, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2009

Reviews

[The Bookworm Girl Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some interesting insights. I had to read it for my leadership class. Although interesting at times, there were
lots of cases of info dumping. I wouldn’t recommend it since I’ve read better leadership textbooks, but it does contain thought-provoking historical context.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have picked this one up because the name of Steve Forbes was on the cover. Somehow the ancient history characters are relevant, even if its even hard to prove they existed. And somehow they influence the managerial decisions in the late 20th century even if there is no reference to the said characters in the work and actions of the modern managers.

[Richard C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Power Ambition Glory, published last June, reflects Steve Forbes’s quieter qualities – the introverted intellectual with a taste for history lessons. (Forbes took a BA in history at Princeton.) In Power Ambition Glory, Steve and co-author John Prevas examine the leadership styles of the ancients, such as Cyrus the Great of the 6th century BC, whom we learn was the first to recognize basic human rights and ruled his vast empire accordingly. (On the “Cyrus Cylinder”, the Persian King inscribed in cuneiform the world’s first known “Charter of Human Rights.”) Cyrus won the hearts and minds of the conquered by granting his new subjects “full rights of citizenship and participation” and benignly tolerating their “customs and religions.”

Flash forward to contemporary times, and the authors then show how Frank Gannett built his newspaper empire mimicking (consciously or not) Cyrus’s leadership techniques. Gannett acquired local newspapers across the nation, but similarly gave the papers editorial freedom, even though he, like Cyrus, extracted his financial “tributes”. Very enjoyable. Richard ( www.richardcmorais.com )

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is an uncomfortable mishmash of a gloss on some prominent leaders of ancient history and the business heroes of 2008-ish. It's as if Forbes had lunch with a historian and thought, "There's a market for a book that combines Plutarch's Lives with business-press horseshit." The curious leader would be better served by reading Plutarch and bypassing this damp squib of a leadership text.

[Emi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Một cuốn sách hiếm hoi đọc được giữa thời buổi sách kinh doanh kết hợp self-help đang tràn lan như nấm. Phong cách viết sử dễ đọc và dễ gần. Có chút lấn cấn về cái chết của Alexander.

[Brenda Micheletto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro excelente y de lectura muy ágil.

El libro se va dividiendo en capítulos que comienzan con una breve explicación del contexto histórico que rodeaba al líder del que se va hablar. Luego se explica de forma súper didáctica y clara las particularidades de ese líder, como llegaron al poder y por qué pasaron a la historia. Algunos de los personajes que se analizan son Ciro el grande, Alejandro Magno, Jenofonte, entre tantos otros. También se van haciendo paralelismos con los líderes de las empresas actuales haciendo la lectura entretenida y muy útil.
Con este libro fui aprendiendo cuestiones históricas que desconocía totalmente así como también temas empresariales. El estilo de redacción hace que lo leas como una anécdota o un chisme incluso.

Totalmente recomendado!!

[Shivesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great leaders articulate their mission in a way that their followers understand what they are asked to do, why it needs to be done, and how they are going to do it

Character shows up in success and failure, it transports you through hard times and allows you to manage success.

No organization is balanced on one person, regardless of their ability or character.

Three aspects:
Vision
Ability
Motivation

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

The work jumps between profiles of ancient military leaders with modern captains of industry.

[Peregrin Tuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entretenido. No tan revelador

[Max Breedlove · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few interesting stories on leadership throughout history. But not a lot of substance.

[Raf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating book! Steven Forbes & John Prevas team up to write about the challenges of ancient leaders compared with today’s business CEO’s and executives. I particularly loved the ancient history chapters about Cyrus, Xenophon, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, and Caesar Augustus. John Prevas actually hiked and climbed the geographic areas where Alexander’s empire reached the outskirts of India, and Hannibal’s arduous journey through the Alps. This gave him the insight to write very detailed stories about these incredible historic leaders and their endeavors. I don’t really think it does these ancient leaders any justice to compare their struggles and difficulties with those of modern day corporate CEO’s, or even people like Henry Ford and John Rockerfeller. After all, Hannibal and Alexander the Great fought major battles and led armies of tens of thousands or more at a time. I could not even imagine being in their shoes and or even being alive during that period of time. It makes me appreciate the luxuries and comforts we have today. However, I still appreciate the perspective of the book and its emphasis on leadership. If you are interested in ancient history, especially when it comes to leadership, I highly recommend this book.

[Raven · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a brief analysis of great leaders and their management styles, this is a good book. As a business management title this book falls short of the mark. Although the book has Steve Forbes listed as the main author, the bulk of the book was actually written by historian John Prevas. It reads mostly as a historical overview of the lives of the greatest leaders in history-from Hannibal to Alexander the Great. After discussing their lives Steve Forbes adds comparisons to modern corporate heads. He compares their successes and failures to the historical figures successes and failures. These parts of the book feel tacked on and forced, and are not very enjoyable to read. The flow is horrible. What was a great idea was badly executed, and I think this book would have been better simply as a brief biography of great men.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another amazing nonfiction book that parallels the lives of great leaders from the ancient world (ie Alexander) to lives of great leaders today. Each section focuses on a different time period, going though the lives of the leader, his successes and eventual failures, then comparing them to big businesses today and their CEOs.

It was interesting to read the parallels and how present tends to always reflect the past, without even realizing it – how a great leader and suddenly lose everything because he is too wrapped up in the end goal.

Forbes incorporates lessons into the comparisons, hopefully helping future leaders change the course of their business dealings to a more effective and promising outcome.

It was a great and interesting read.

[Meredith Hull · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was miserable. Forbes is a great man, but a terrible author. The parts by Prevas were nice well written summaries of the great leaders and included all of the pertinent details. The section on modern leaders by Forbes was sketchy and vague. They should have been equally as long (if not longer when covering multiple parallels) and not made nearly as many assumptions about the readers knowledge of centuries old corporate America. Furthermore the parallels actually drawn like "crossing the Rubicon" were simple, obvious, and often cliche. In short, great idea with poor execution on half of the contents.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

disregard the social/wealth status of Forbes, this is a decent book about the parallel world between modern successful/failure business leaders and their practices relative by using ancient Western histories. Yes, history repeat itself over and over and over again..but guess what? Seldom do we have leaders/politicians are learning from the past and from previous mistakes..Forbes narrates a few empires/people such as the Greek, Spartans, Persian, Hannibal the Punic Carthaginian , Alexander the Great, the Romans, Xenophon..Worth the read if anyone lacks the understanding of basic history and what these histories can bring us..vs the modern businesses such as GE, Enron, Apple, HPQ, etc.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

reduce taxes 180 squeegee men jaywalked, see things for yourself defy conventional motivate don’t ignore history conquer self, greeks small independent city states, leaders confident articulate modest vision direction motivation character courageous honest ask right question seek to understand opposing ideas, self control foundation of success, fannie and Freddie corruption never prosecuted like Enron and others, Alexander beloved own propaganda conquer though no manage, Carthage sacrificed infants, pick battles to win, crossing the rubicon no turning back, July for Julius, Augustus make haste slowly, learn from history.

[Daniel Dawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This excellent book serves as a wonderful reminder of Aristotle's dictum that "it is more important for a leader to conquer himself than to conquer others." As the authors sequentially compare the leaders of the past to today's leaders, the same issues come up: self-discipline, ambition, and success. This book does an excellent job of showing that "The ugly stepsister of success is often a loss of discipline", and it serves as a testimony to character as the bedrock of lasting leadership. Well worth the time!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this a business book or a history book?

I believe it is both, but that it emphasizes history and leadership. There are moments of fast forward from ancient figures such as Julius Ceasar and Alexander the Great, throw in a few additional leaders such as Hannibal and Cyrus, to modern business executives who have used some of the same leadership techniques.

I admit that I had the most fun learning about some of the details and bad character traits of the heroes.

I recommend this.

[Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like the books was written by two people (which is was). I really liked the sections that covered the historical figures. The sections about the business leaders of today didn't really give great detail. I felt like the guy who wrote the current sections read the really good stuff the historian wrote and then googled some similar stories from the business world of today. So a 5 star for the historic stuff and a 2 star for the rest.

[Amandeep Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and researched book. Insights in to the leadership styles of great leaders who laid the foundations for western civilization. Would have been nice if we had few more Asian leaders from ancient India and China. There is always a learning process involved in their life which results in their success. Rightly said, the leaders main tradeoff is to balance - Power, ambition and glory.

Great book for learning overall.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book sounded so interesting and I loved the concept of connecting the ancient leaders with the current world issues. However, the book reminded me very much of reading my high school history text book. I was dissapointed that it wasn't organized in a more interesting way. I woulnd't tell you to avoid it, just be aware that its more academic than the publisher implies.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a cool book it is mostly a history book about ancient leaders and how they lead their empires or troops. How it worked or didnt work then how it relates to how modern corporate leaders used the same types of styles and how it worked for them. All together informative, and cool book for management self help, or business help.

[Graham Mumm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the history but the modern "lessons" could have been almost entirely discarded. Correlation between past leaders and current felt weak and very contrived/forced. Furthermore, seemed as if they briefly skim over many current issues that would have made for some great insights upon a detailed investigation. Worth the read, nonetheless.

[John Roskelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today's world & business leaders would benefit greatly from the lessons taught by some of those of the ancient world.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting! Rulers from the past and how present companies use there practices. It was facinating to read. I learned a great deal. Terrific read. Quick Read

[Glenn Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good look at key historical figures and their leadership traits - how those traits were a great asset even when used selfishly.

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want a 3rd grader look at great leaders this is your book.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Facinating parallels between great leaders from antiquity and leaders of all kinds in the world today.

[GREGORY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some chapters are very dry, but overall the book is a good read for those interested in leadership.

[Major Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to this book: good stories of ancient leaders, and moderate stories of modern day business-folks; however, the links between the two were somewhat strained.