power ambition glory

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Based on an extraordinary collaboration between Steve Forbes,chairman, CEO, and editor in chief of Forbes Media, and classicsprofessor John Prevas, Power Ambition Glory provides intriguingcomparisons between six great leaders of the ancient world andcontemporary business leaders.? Great leaders not only have vision but know how to buildstructures to effect it. Cyrus the Great did so in creating anempire based on tolerance and inclusion, an approach highly unusualfor his or any age. Jack Welch and John Chambers built theirbusiness empires using a similar approach, and like Cyrus, theyremain the exceptions rather than the rule.? Great leaders know how to build consensus and motivate by doingwhat is right rather than what is in their self-interest. Xenophonput personal gain aside to lead his fellow Greeks out of a periloussituation in Persia–something very similar to what Lou Gerstner andAnne Mulcahy did in rescuing IBM and Xerox.? Character matters in leadership. Alexander the Great hadexceptional leadership skills that enabled him to conquer theeastern half of the ancient world, but he was ultimately destroyedby his inability to manage his phenomenal success. The corporateworld is full of similar examples, such as the now incarceratedDennis Kozlowski, who, flush with success at the head of hisempire, was driven down the highway of self-destruction by anout-of-control ego.? A great leader is one who challenges the conventional wisdom ofthe day and is able to think out of the box to pull off amazingfeats. Hannibal did something no one in the ancient world thoughtpossible; he crossed the Alps in winter to challenge Rome forcontrol of the ancient world. That same innovative way of thinkingenabled Serge Brin and Larry Page of Google to challenge and besttwo formidable competitors, Microsoft and Yahoo!? A leader must have ambition to succeed, and Julius Caesar hadplenty of it. He set Rome on the path to empire, but his successmade him believe he was a living god and blinded him to the dangersthat eventually did him in. The parallels with corporate leadersand Wall Street master-of-the-universe types are numerous, but nonemore salient than Hank Greenberg, who built the AIG insuranceempire only to be struck down at the height of his success by thecorporate daggers of his directors.? And finally, leadership is about keeping a sane and modestperspective in the face of success and remaining focused on thefundamentals–the nuts and bolts of making an organization work dayin and day out. Augustus saved Rome from dissolution after theassassination of Julius Caesar and ruled it for more than fortyyears, bringing the empire to the height of its power. What madehim successful were personal humility, attention to the mundanedetails of building and maintaining an infrastructure, and theunderstanding of limits. Augustus set Rome on a course ofprosperity and stability that lasted for centuries, just as AlfredSloan, using many of the same approaches, built GM into theleviathan that until recently dominated the automotivebusiness.

power ambition glory

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