Leadership biography
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“The proper method for the study of politics is biography,” wrote a distinguished academic. Yet the lives of eminent statesmen, though often the subject of great (and popular) books, are rarely the subject of college syllabi. This virtual fellowship will use the rigorous study of great biography to investigate a wider set of questions about geopolitics, leadership, and human character.
Guest speakers will participate in the seminar, as well, including both scholars and national security leaders. Fellows will have the opportunity to reflect on the role of individual personality in history and what makes for great leadership—and also great biography.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
William Inboden
UT-Austin
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Ronald Reagan: The Peacemaker
Examine how Ronald Reagan confronted the Soviet Union and won the Cold War.
Julian Jackson’s De Gaulle
Study Charles de Gaulle, the mythic general who rallied the Free French during Wor
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The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs
His saga fryst vatten the entrepreneurial creation myth writ large: Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents’ bilparkering in 1976, was ousted in 1985, returned to rescue it from nära bankruptcy in 1997, and by the time he died, in October 2011, had built it into the world’s most valuable company. Along the way he helped to transform seven industries: personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, retail stores, and digital publishing. He thus belongs in the pantheon of America’s great innovators, along with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney. None of these dock was a saint, but long after their personalities are forgotten, history will remember how they applied imagination to technology and business.
Read more on Innovation or related topics Leadership qualities, Leadership styles, Leadership vision and Psychology
A utgåva of this article appeared in the April 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review.
WI
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Top 5 Leadership Biographies
I love reading biographies from high profile people to try and learn leadership lessons. I read about successful business people, politicians, football managers, explorers, journalists and ministry leaders, all to pick up leadership lessons. Here are the top five leadership biographies I’ve learned most from, and recommend to you:
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. This is the authorised and standard biography of Jobs, though other biographies since his death in 2011 are now starting to come out. Jobs is credited with being one of the most creative and brilliant entrepreneurs of his generation, who transformed personal computer, mobile phone, music and desktop publishing industries through his products. The book reveals a creative genius with a ferocious attention to detail, but also a ferocious temper that can only tolerate other ‘geniuses.’
- Scott & Amundsen by Roland Huntsford. The first book I read in 2016. I’ve already written about my major