Leaders: Myth and Reality [Hardcover]

An instant national bestseller!

Stanley McChrystal, the retired US Army general and bestselling author of Team of Teams, profiles thirteen of history’s great leaders, including Walt Disney, Coco Chanel, and Robert E. Lee, to show that leadership is not what you think it is—and never was.

Stan McChrystal served for thirty-four years in the US Army, rising from a second lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division to a four-star general, in command of all American and coalition forces in Afghanistan. During those years he worked with countless leaders and pondered an ancient question: “What makes a leader great?” He came to realize that there is no simple answer.

McChrystal profiles thirteen famous leaders from a wide range of eras and fields—from corporate CEOs to politicians and revolutionaries. He uses their stories to explore how leadership works in practice and to challenge the myths that complicate our thinking about this critical topic.

With Plutarch’sLivesas his model, McChrystal looks at paired sets of leaders who followed unconventional paths to success. For instance. . .

· Walt DisneyandCoco Chanelbuilt empires in very different ways. Both had public personas that sharply contrasted with how they lived in private.

· Maximilien Robespierrehelped shape the French Revolution in the eighteenth century;Abu Musab al-Zarqawiled the jihadist insurgency in Iraq in the twenty-first. We can draw surprising lessons from them about motivation and persuasion.

· BothBoss Tweedin nineteenth-century New York andMargaret Thatcherin twentieth-century Britain followed unlikely roads to the top of powerful institutions.

·Martin Lutherand his future namesakeMartin Luther King Jr., both local clergymen, emerged from modest backgrounds to lead world-changing movements.