This book has one foot in the self-help/life lessons genre, the other in the history/biography category. Its strength lies in the latter, i.e., Brookhiser's command of (and interest in) history. And it's a good read in large part because Washington himself is such an interesting figure.A DIFFERENT APPROACHBrookhiser organizes Washington's entire life around management challenges -- as a farmer and businessman, as a military leader, and as the first chief executive of the U.S. Now unless I'm mistaken, this method is not common in substantive history. And make no mistake, this is not "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun"; this book is the result of serious historical research.It has three major sections: "Problems," "People," and "Self." Within each of these sections, Washington's experiences are presented according to specific themes or life lessons, e.g., communication, start-ups, dealing with troublemakers, failure, betrayal, learning from your enemies, understanding your own strengths and weaknesses, and so on.What this means in practice is that "George Washington on Leadership" is a book of anecdotes -- but anecdotes with historical depth. The variety in the anecdotes makes for a very lively read: first, you're reading about Washington's challenges as a military commander facing a far-more-powerful opponent (the British); then you're reading about his difficulties as the first president, learning about the office as he invents it; and next thing you know you're back on the farm, watching the CEO of the various Mount Vernon businesses make tough judgment calls about people, crops, new products and services, etc. DOES IT WORK?Well, yes and no. Brookhiser is really good with anecdote -- setting the scene, describing the political, military, or economic backdrop of the story he's about to tell you; giving thumbnail sketches of the personalities of the major players in the story; and then telling what happened in a lively way.What doesn't work so well is the management lessons or life lessons he tries to extract. The narrative sometimes lurches from smooth historical narrative to frequently awkward attempts to extract the lesson. Here's an example from the first chapter: "The British knew about the French fleet in the first place, thanks to a spy of their own: Major General Benedict Arnold, whose treason would be revealed two months later. If your organization competes with other organizations, they will be trying to learn to do everything that you are learning."Now this example is unusually bad; most of Brookhiser's attempts along these lines are far less jarring and make far more sense. But even from this brief passage I think you can see that Brookhiser's comfort zone is definitely on the history side of the fence. THE GOOD NEWSThe good news is that the book is not unduly marred by such passages; they make up less than 2% of the book. The basic anecdotal method and thematic organization of the book work. It's a good read and a real education about Washington.
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