Leadership through the Ages

Citation

Latemore, G.M. (2011), "Leadership through the Ages", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 217-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437731111113033

Given the title, it would be logical to assume that this book would survey various theories of and approaches to leadership throughout the ages. However, it is less an historical overview of leaders and leadership than a primer, an introductory book about leadership. The characters quoted from history are simply illustrative of various ideas about leadership: we do not receive a careful analysis of “leadership through the ages” as such. Sun Tzu and Confucius are frequently cited, and the historical figures include: Napoleon, Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, Hitler and Abraham Lincoln, but there is no detailed analysis or integration of viewpoints from these sources.

There is also nothing about the author on the dust cover apart from the fact that he is listed as being from “San Jose State University”, California. A Google search reveals that Sylvia is in the Department of Political Science and that he has written articles and books about public personnel administration and planning.

There are seven chapters, with the titles: the nature of leaders, motivation, organizational structure, decisiveness, power and communication, ethics; and leadership development.

The book begins with a consideration of the traits of leadership but does not rise much beyond this. The list of leadership skills to be cultivated seems endless and somewhat arbitrary – a command presence, energy and enthusiasm, purposefulness, personal magnetism, organizing skills, concern for followers and personal warmth.

Still, a helpful insight in this book is about how to engage in leadership development. Apart from the obvious strategies of systematic training and mentoring, the author extols the virtues of building a network and of engaging in volunteering. He rightly recommends developing the habit of thinking strategically – but provides little insight about how to do that.

The quotations and illustrative examples, however, are well done. The various stories, with many from the author's own experience, help to bring the concepts to life. In fact, these quotes and case examples were often more interesting than the text itself.

The reader obtains glimpses of different approaches to leadership, even though most of these are American and many of them are either about presidents or generals. The constant citation of military examples becomes predictable: where are other discourses such as a feminist critique, a multi‐cultural viewpoint or some consideration of sustainability, or the dangers of leadership? Other contemporary voices on leadership are lacking.

The book is indexed with a short, five‐page bibliography. Sylvia cites himself only three times – which is reassuring. Throughout, there are references to the expected classic theorists such as Bennis, Burns, Drucker, Herzberg, Goleman, Stogdill and Vroom but surprisingly few references after the year 2000 and no mention of more recent experts on leadership such as Marcus Buckingham, Gary Yukl, Manfred Kets de Vries or Rob Goffee. Generally, his sources are somewhat dated. Overall, this book does not advance our body of knowledge about leadership very much: it simply summarizes more traditional approaches, admittedly, in a light and attractive way.

The small font size throughout and the A5 size of the publication itself became annoying. While it is clearly part of a series from Waveland Press and this is the publishing format, the presentation became rather hard on the eyes.

The audience for this book would be undergraduates or those new to the task of leadership. It lacks scholarly depth but is nonetheless, a highly accessible and readable little book.