Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership: Executive Lessons from the Bully Pulpit

The beauty of Strock's book is that it is more than a mini-biography and analytic profile, it is more than a readable and insightful business-leadership guide for success, it is more than a historical account of how great leaders are born and made. No, hidden in his inimitably sensitive and deeply perceptive prose is also a "call to arms",a cry d'couer. If you are a serious, informed, and intelligent reader you will sense this from the beginning TR quote..."the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood..." In an age where most of our national leaders spin their way out of their self-inflicted injuries and stupidities, at a time when most of our Congressional reps do not even own a passport, in a country where recent presidents, senators, governors, and mayors have never seen active duty in the defense of our nation and only sweat while jogging, STROCK'S TR summons all of us to be stronger than we are and better than we expect. To take the road less travelled and to fear naught. The true leader LEADS by example, always adheres to the truth, and never lowers his standards of honesty. In particular, he/she must be absolutely honest with himself lest there be serious consequences.

After watching Pearl Harbor I am convinced that had TR lived long enough he would have joined Brokaw's greatest generation to beat the enemy back. I strongly recommend this tour d'force to anyone who aspires to become a leader and to all leaders who seek to be great.


Bully!   May 27, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Bully!

That's what I say about this book and that's what I think TR would say about it if he were alive today-and by "bully" I mean "outstanding!" and "good job!"

First of all I read this book because I wanted to find out about TR but also enlarge my knowledge about what makes certain people leaders (I am a Corporate Trainer / Documentation Manager--but history buff, too)-and I had just finished reading McCullogh's "Truman" and that was a great book but I wanted something that I could apply at the office too (yet keeping the readability of a "Truman"--) and I found it in this book. It was perfect.

"TR on Leadership" had a compelling style that didn't get bogged down in minutiae and had a thread that wove it all together-to me that thread was TR's courage and how he forced himself (even when scared to death) to always step up to the plate and face the challenges, no matter how daunting: He was the fat little rich boy New Yorker who stood up to the whiskey drinking Wild West cowboys and fought them toe to toe. He was the guy who wasn't afraid to commit himself to writing and not stopping until he had finished the book he'd set out to do. He was the asthmatic who charged up San Juan Hill. He was the idealistic ingenue politician, who took his Western-Sheriff-like ideas of right and truth and stuck them into the middle of the cess pool that was NYC Tammany Hall politics. To me, this guy defined courage because he came from so far from it.

If you ever thought you had at some time stood alone against the masses for what you believed in, whether on a document or idea at work, speaking in front of people, in a boxing ring, or anywhere, but fought on anyway (or did not fight on) you will like reading this book. It will teach you how to understand courage and how to be better at whatever you do in the future and how being courageous and believing in yourself can bring out leadership qualities.

At the end of every chapter the author also encapsulated the leadership lessons that TR has learned and that the author has culled from his research. It is really helpful and handy (I know I have posted them in documents and have presented them in seminars in sections of my leadership training-I also sent the book as a gift to a world class trainer in Munich-he loved it too-I don't think I plagiarized!)

Reading this book not only taught me about TR to the point where I feel I know the man pretty well, but it also taught me lessons that can help me be a better person. Only a few books can do that. Books like McCullogh's "Truman" did it, the Lincoln bio "With Malice Toward None" did it and I can safely say so did "TR on Leadership."

Best to all you fellow readers!


Lessons from a "Roughrider"   March 17, 2005
Matt Lewis
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Theodore Roosevelt is an excellent person to study for one simple reason: He believed that his leadership abilities were learned and developed. By reading and studying other leaders, he made a concerted effort to develop himself (much like the way he developed his weak and sickly body into the "roughrider" we now remember). Roosevelt wrote of Ulysses S. Grant, "It is part of the man's greatness that now we can use his career purely for illustration." You and I can say the same thing about TR.



Leadership Exemplified   May 30, 2001
Terry M. Johnston (Sacramento, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

James Strock's book exemplifies the most crucial aspects of leadership. This book identifies the courageous abilities of Theodore Roosevelt and his ability to command any given situation. James Strock has captured the life and times of the great "TR" in an incredibly well-written book. I suggest that this book be included in all management/leadership training in both private and non-private organinzations.