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Elizabeth I CEOWhen Queen Elizabeth 1 st came to the throne of England, the country was in a sorry state, but her reign is now remembered as one of the golden ages of English history. In Elizabeth I CEO Alan Axelrod looks at her success in terms of running a business, and examines what lessons her reign might have for leaders of today. But the book isn't just for CEO's. It's an entertaining read, and will benefit anyone with even the smallest leadership role, as well as those who just want to look at history in a different light. Elizabeth had many problems to deal with. Her path to leadership was not simple - while her half sister Mary Tudor was on the throne, Elizabeth was kept in prison, and one wrong move would have resulted in her death. When she came to the throne she had to deal with the power of Spain, which she managed to keep at bay until the time was right for a battle on her terms - the defeat of the Spanish Armada. At home there was a plenty of religious unrest, which she managed to quell without making too many enemies. And she managed a financial turnaround, changing a country with an empty treasury into one which could invest in education and the arts.
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Paperback
288 pages
ISBN: 0735203571
Salesrank: 583215
Weight:0.85 lbs | | Published: 2002 Prentice Hall Press | | Amazon price $10.88 | | Marketplace:New from $4.00:Used from $0.97 |
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| Amazon.ca info
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Paperback
288 pages
ISBN: 0735203571
Salesrank: 281462
Weight:0.85 lbs | | Published: 2003 Prentice Hall Press (TR) | | Amazon price CDN$ 15.29 | | Marketplace:New from CDN$ 15.29:Used from CDN$ 4.05 |
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| Product Description
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| In 1558, Elizabeth I inherited a business in trouble. Burdened by runaway inflation and a debased currency, bereft of strategic alliances, torn by internal dissent, and eyed greedily by competitors bent on takeover, her business, England, was on the brink of ruin. Forty-five years later, England was the richest and most powerful nation in Europe. Softcover. |
| "Burghley, Instruct This Malapert Fellow!" * |
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I do not read self-help, but I thought it might be instructive and educational to include something of the genre in my review list. And the eye-catching cover of this book combined with the interesting premise that Elizabeth I might have made a brilliant contemporary CEO led me to pick this up.
I want my money back.
I am not going to comment on the business advice because I do not feel qualified, although it seemed to me that it was all an anecdotal series of dressed-up aphorisms, "self-help" lingo in borrowed Elizabethen finery. In other words, plain horse sense.
But what galled me was the simple fact that the author, at best, could not have read more than one or two books about Elizabeth or her era. The historical knowledge here is all anecdotal without larger context or meaning. It might as well have been Mark Twain, Cicero, Marcus Aurelius, or my school's very capable resource officer. So, if he is trying to make some kind of case for Elizabeth as a modern businesswoman, he does not get past the first hurdle. When he allows Elizabeth to speak, any person familiar with context will be left scratching his head and looking confused. And while it is kind of a "fun" exercise a couple of times, it quickly gets stale and soggy.
Further, the history in this book is just plain bad. Elizabeth did not preside over the British Empire of Victoria. And, she made mistakes, none of which are mentioned here. All we get is a litany of successes that disserve this incredible personage by granting her the prescience of a goddess in a gross exercise of silly hero-worship. Since this is a "rah rah" exercise, I grant that this, standing alone, is not fatal to the author's intent. But the very things that made Elizabeth great - the lusty humor, the low level paranoia, the quibbling and prevarication, the inhuman and cat-like patience, the harsh tutelage of her political errors - are missing. This is a paper mache Elizabeth, an Elizabeth of straw and not of flesh. In giving her the CEO's chair, the author diminishes her lessons and does not exalt her lessons.
It's still an interesting idea, and perhaps one that should be explored in the larger contexts of how both her successes and errors might find "matches" in the business world of the 20th and 21st centuries. But this book fails to do even that, so juvenile and high-schoolish it is.
No recommendation. Bad history, cream puff advice, and, as a I said, nothing more than lingo in a ruff collar. As Elizabeth herself might have said - "Burghley, instruct this malapert fellow!"
No recommendation.
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| Learning from Our Past *** |
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I found Elizabeth I CEO to be an extremely interesting read. It was a hybrid of a historical read as well as a leadership guide. I was intrigued by the set up of the book. The book was separated into ten different chapters, all framing a different area that Queen Elizabeth I was successful at. In each chapter, there were many different recommendations for great leadership. Along with the recommendation, there was an example of how Queen Elizabeth implemented this in her reign over England.
Every chapter exemplified important lessons that everyone could benefit from implementing in their lives. These bits of advice to be a great leader are not only applicable to those interested in leading a company or business endeavor. These lessons are useful for anyone. They are not only key components of being a leader, but also components of living a successful life full of respect and success.
I found the chapter "Good Counsel" to be extremely enlightening. There are many specific examples of how Queen Elizabeth I surrounded herself with valuable people and advice. She also always listened to people that were not on her Council. She recognized that all people in her kingdom were important and valued their opinions. I think that if more people took this advice and implemented it in their lives, many more things would be accomplished. People would also feel more valued if their leaders listened them to more frequently. There are many pieces of advice such as how to criticize constructively, use everyone to their fullest capacity, and command power while still respecting those being led.
So often we focus on learning from the mistakes in our past. This is a unique new outlook on learning from our past. Instead of the focus on what was done wrong and what we could change, we are provided with an excellent example of a leader to model after. I found this new outlook extremely refreshing. This book taught me many things about leadership that I will implement in the future. Many would benefit from reading this book. It could sculpt current leaders into greater ones, teach those that want to lead, how to lead, or provide someone with an interesting historical read! |
| Elizabeth I CEO ***** |
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| This transaction was easy and fast. The book was in better condition than expected. Thank you! |
| A very good retrofit strategy... **** |
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| While I don't believe that Elizabeth was totally the excellent strategizer, I do believe she was well advised and did her own thinking. This book goes back and imposing upon historical events the decisions made by Elizabeth-I and how it would apply in business today. There are certain parallels between a monarchy and corporation that do fit together and can be seen in examples. The major portion of the book covers the image that Elizabeth set forth by taking on being the image of the Mother Mary (Catholic church) to her subjects, thus, to make the people more accepting of the new Church of England as the religious seat of power, thus diffusing the Vatican's hold over the people. My only complaint, like others opinions, there were no mention of where things went wrong, only highlighting the good things. This is a very good book still and I recommend it along with another book called Big Chief Elizabeth (which is more of the history of the new World and Elizabeth's funding of the voyages to capture more land). |
| Before Thatcher there was Elizabeth the First *** |
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It was a woman who gave birth to the British Empire where the sun (son) never set on England's territory. None other than the Virgin Queen herself, who bore no heir, but lived to a very ripe old age. In her time, Elizabeth turned around her country from bankruptcy and discord. The book takes snippets from her life and there are some gems of wisdom from Elizabeth's reign. Like her father, Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth the First lived large and had the courage to be powerful, was an orphaned Princess who ascended to the throne and a nation in tatters ... and whose life was a testament that resulted in Rule Britannia until the last colony, Hong Kong, was relinquished in 1997.
But if you really need lessons from a Monarch: read Margaret Thatcher's own words on her ascent. First hand knowledge is the most useful.
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| "This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England..." ***** |
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This is one of the very best books which examine "lessons" to be learned from various historical figures. Elizabeth is among the greatest leaders and managers who ever lived. Axelrod concentrates on her as the chief executive officer, first of a country and then of an emerging empire during one of European history's most turbulent periods. Consider what occurred during Elizabeth I's reign:
* Establishment of the Church of England (in 1559)
* Re-establishment of the authority of the British crown at a time when other monarchies were deteriorating
* Re-establishment of English coinage after the nation's near (and total) bankruptcy
* Support of exploratory voyages (by Drake and Raleigh) in the New World to lay what eventually became the foundation of the British Empire
* Support of the cultural arts during what is now regarded as England's "Golden Age" (ie the Elizabethan Age) of literature, theater, and music
* Survival of all manner of foreign threats (eg invasion by the Spanish armada in 1588) as well as domestic conspiracies (eg numerous assassination attempts)
Axelrod organizes his material within ten chapters and focuses on 136 separate but interrelated "strategic lessons" to be learned from Elizabeth I's leadership and management as monarch from 1558 until her death in 1603. One value-added benefit of Axelrod's presentation is the inclusion of direct quotations which are skillfully correlated with key points. For example, she frequently affirms her total faith and trust in those whom she governs: "Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that under God I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good will of my subjects." Axelrod notes her accessibility to the so-called commoners, her eagerness to circulate among them, and her delight in interacting with them. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out O'L. Higgins & Gilberd's Leadership Secrets of Elizabeth I. In this volume, the authors include comments by more than 100 modern executives whom they interviewed "to find out if Elizabeth's lessons were valid today and if the queen had served them as a role model." Yes and yes. I also recommend Starkey's brilliant biography which, in combination with the other two, brings this magnificent monarch to life; better yet, they suggest the relevance of that life to our own. |
| Interesting, But Not Stimulating *** |
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"Elizabeth I: CEO" draws dozens of business lessons from the life and actions of Queen Elizabeth I. Much if this book is biographical. Those segments of the book filled gaps in my knowledge about Queen Elizabeth and the tangled family of her father, Henry VIII.
The book is organized into dozens of business maxims which are then supported by examples from Elizabeth's life and career.
One test I apply to books is whether they whet my appetite to read more. This one fails that test. I enjoyed it but do not have a thirst to know more about management theory. While I might read more about Queen Elizabeth, it is not a priority. This is a worthwhile book, but not if you have something you really want to read.
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| The Best Mixture of Business and History ***** |
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| If you can understand history and business, and want to understand both even more, then this is the book for you. It describes the political life of Elizabeth I but in a modern context, and links it on to the modern day teachings of Management. A good value for money publication and is certainly not a "heavy weight" book - easy to understand. I particularly liked the chapter summaries which include a subject lesson. Go on, but it - you will love it.... |
| Essential reading for Leaders managing Change ***** |
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| Far from being a book about history, Elizabeth I, CEO is a book about the leadership skills required in current turbulent times, which utilises the life of an incredible historical figure to practically and insightfully bring those skills to tangible reality for leaders in the 21st Century. Alan Axelrod has put this book together in an excellent format - as I read through each chapter, I found myself recognising and identifying with many issues relating to leadership through change, and benefiting from the practical lessons included. I can frankly say that I started the book on the plane, continued it in the taxi and finished it in the hotel room! I would say that this book is invaluable reading for any executive leading an organisation through change and growth. I have recommended it as part of the Leadership Development programme in our organisation. |
| Poor rendition of history leads to not-so-useful conclusions * |
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| This book is a follow-up to Axelrod's book on leadership lessons for executives drawn from the example of George S. Patton. Here, he's picked another historical figure, Queen Elizabeth I of England. This had the makings of a potentially valuable book, save for the slight problem that the history is so poorly rendered that little of value can be gleaned for anyone facing the unrelenting pressures of running an actual business. Axelrod portrays the Elizabethan period with such rose-coloured glasses that he fails to impart a useful or realistic message here. The book has numerous references to the queen's fiscal management of the country, to the Spanish Armada, to the outpouring of literature of Shakespeare and his fellow masters of the pen, with little bits of wisdom relayed in the process. All well and good. But in recognising and deriving lessons from the queen's many undoubted successes, he should have been balanced and also discussed where things went wrong. There is scant if any attention paid to Elizabeth's policy in Ireland, which had a particularly bloody legacy and in which England's undertakings gave rise to failure at every turn from the 1570s onward. The consequences of this policy failure are still with us today. Nor is there mention of England's military defeats against Spain after the Armada, which devastated English plans to settle the new world and gain control of trade routes. Nor does Axelrod note the cases of financial mismanagement and corruption that plagued Elizabeth's reign in the late 1500s. And where is this empire he talks about in the book's title, "the leader who built an empire"? Axelrod skips the specifics on this because there was no empire by the time King James I succeeded Elizabeth in the early 1600s. England would not have an empire to speak of for another 150 years. There is nothing wrong or unexpected about these setbacks in Elizabeth's reign-- she had many successes and, like any monarch, some missteps as well. If one wishes to use such a monarch as an example for a business, it is a disservice to readers to trumpet the successes while ignoring the failures. What business, after all, turns in profitable quarters with every fiscal year and pleases its investors and even competitors with its every move? You'd be hard-pressed to find any such firm gracing the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Real businesses learn from their failures as much as their successes, and Axelrod has denied his readers a valuable example by focussing too much on the latter and too little on the former. This book would be more valuable with a little more depth and a little more perspective in its treatment of its historical subject. |
| Historical Leadership Lessons **** |
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| After reading this book, I took away a few key points. One, don't mess with a woman who is a good leader. Two, always play your cards close to your vest. Three, if you lead, truly lead, people will attack you and you need to be prepared. Four, this was a very useful book. I serve in a leadership/management role currently and much of this book applies univerally to any leadership situation. I have read other books of this type, (Lincoln on Leadership), and have really enjoyed studying past leaders. It also should push current leaders to see how it stacks up to now, and what we need to do better. I recommend this book. B Joseph Dworak |
| It worked then, and it works now.... ***** |
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| Elizabeth demonstrated strong leadership skills that are directly applicable in today's world. This is a simple read, with great chapter heads and quotes. A brilliant woman long underrecognized for her contributions. |
| Still more leadership lessons from history *** |
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| There has been such a glut of books teaching management and leadership lessons from historical figures and spiritual traditions (Attila, the Tao, Machiavelli, etc.) you'd think the market would be saturated by now. Apparently not, for they keep coming. As far as this kind of book goes, Elizabeth l CEO isn't bad. Of course, the theory's premise is basically contrived. While we can draw analogies between 16th Century politics and 21st Century business, the two environments are fundamentally different. For example, one subject Alan Axelrod often refers to in Elizabeth l (he has the unfortunate habit of repeating the same points many times) is Elizabeth's struggle to enforce religious conformity in England. Elizabeth was a devout Protestant in a nation where Catholics still had a strong influence. How exactly does this translate into a modern business context? The fact is, it doesn't. There is nothing in the business world that even remotely resembles Medieval/Renaissance religious orthodoxy. Only someone who takes management platitudes such as the "vision" of a business could fail to realize this. Visions aside, corporations all have the same goal --profit. They are essentially amoral. Any attempt to indoctrinate employees of a corporation with something akin to religious fervor would be absurd (this isn't to say that such efforts are not made by overzealous CEOs and managers). Despite these serious objections, I still enjoyed Elizabeth l CEO and found some worthwhile lessons in it (though not necessarily in the realm of business). Axelrod does a good job of presenting history in an informative and entertaining manner. He effectively portrays Elizabeth as a powerful and innovative leader who kept her many virtues --intelligence, courage, frugality, pragmatism-- in balance. I suspect, however, that the realms of politics and business are both far too complex to be mastered by any simple set of principles. The audiobook version is narrated by Nelson Runger, who does a fine job of presenting the book. |
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