The Greats on Leadership

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What to expect

You don't need a big title or a business degree in order to lead with impact. What you need is practical wisdom: the insight, judgment, and strength of character that all great leaders have, but that most business schools and corporate workshops don't teach. The Greats on Leadership gets you there.

Jocelyn Davis takes you on an in-depth tour of the best leadership ideas of the past 25 centuries, featuring classic authors from Plato to Winston Churchill, Shakespeare to Jane Austen, C.G. Jung to Peter Drucker, and many more. In a style both thought provoking and entertaining, she shows how -history's great writers have always been, and still are, the real leadership gurus.

Davis spells out the behaviors that distinguish true leaders from misleaders and covers 20 specific leadership topics, including:
Leadership Traps (Shakespeare)
Change (Machiavelli)
Power (Sophocles)
Dilemmas (Madison, Hamilton)
Communication (Lincoln, Pericles)
Personality Types (Jung)
Motivation (Frankl)
Judgment (Maupassant, Melville, Austen, Shaw)
Character (Churchill, Plutarch, Shelley, Joyce)

Each chapter begins with a synopsis of a great work by the author and then draws out the key leadership insights, weaving them together with business examples, the best contemporary research, and tools to help put it all into practice. In the last two chapters Davis presents a new way to think about leadership levels, framing them in terms of the impact you have rather than the title on your business card.

Whether you're a recent graduate or MBA searching for something more inspiring than the standard textbook, a new manager looking for something deeper than the typical how-to book, or an experienced executive seeking ideas to lift you to the next level, this remarkably readable and practical guide will set you on the road to becoming a great leader.

Critics Review

Davis provides a book of substance that is a joy to read. In doing so, she demonstrates the relevance of the humanities even in a fast-changing 21st-century world.
SUCCESS magazine
For anyone who wants to be a great leader in one manageable book.
Eminently practical. A great balance of introspection, inspiration, and impetus toward execution.
800-CEO-READS Editor's Choice
A delightful and mind stretching read that, when coupled with application tools and exercises, transforms the theoretical to the actionable.
Whenever I hear Jocelyn Davis talk about leadership, I listen. Her latest, The Greats on Leadership, is indispensable to the novice and a great resource for the experienced.
Brings to life the writings of many of our most- loved authors and applies their thinking to present day business. This is a book you will return to, time and time again.
A rare blend of old and new. Davis draws together leadership lessons with the best of modern business writers.
A great reminder to think about leadership in terms of the scope of the leader’s impact and not rungs on the corporate ladder.
A must-read for anyone who is serious about continuing their own evolution as a leader.
A rare book that meshes the deeply profound and personal wisdom of great writers and philosophers with immediately practical tools that anyone can apply.
A uniquely insightful take on leadership development.
For anyone who wants to be a great leader in one manageable book.
Marshall Goldsmith, Thinkers 50 #1 Thinker on Leadership in the World
A delightful and mind stretching read that, when coupled with application tools and exercises, transforms the theoretical to the actionable.
Richard Whiteley, author of The Customer Driven Company, Love the Work You’re With, The Corporate Shaman
Whenever I hear Jocelyn Davis talk about leadership, I listen. Her latest, The Greats on Leadership, is indispensable to the novice and a great resource for the experienced.
Bryan Burrough, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Barbarians at the Gate
Brings to life the writings of many of our most- loved authors and applies their thinking to present day business. This is a book you will return to, time and time again.
Karen Blal, CIPD Regional Director Asia
A rare blend of old and new. Davis draws together leadership lessons with the best of modern business writers.
Robert Mass, Partner, Head of International Compliance, Goldman Sachs
A great reminder to think about leadership in terms of the scope of the leader’s impact and not rungs on the corporate ladder.
Carmelita Lubos, Director, Global Talent Management, Burberry
A must-read for anyone who is serious about continuing their own evolution as a leader.
Ed Boswell, former leader of PwC’s People & Change Practice
A rare book that meshes the deeply profound and personal wisdom of great writers and philosophers with immediately practical tools that anyone can apply.
Court Chilton, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan Executive Education
A uniquely insightful take on leadership development.
Charles Miller, SVP Leadership Development, Citibank

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