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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
What makes a great leader? Are they born or bred? These are some of the questions Goodwin asks the reader. I really liked how Goodwin organized the material in her study of four great presidents: Lincoln, TR, FDR, and LBJ. She unpacks important traits of their childhood, how they recovered from their lowest points, and how they succeeded at their biggest moments as presidents.
Other scholars remind us that presidential greatness is hard to find, and after reading this, this fact still holds true, but Goodwin's easy writing style and important messages can inspire any one of us to be better at what we do.
These four presidents all thought about something bigger for the country, held a strong vision of where they wanted to take the country, and asked the people to help. It seems many top-level politicians don't think in these terms, or if they do, they don't have humility or empathy.
One critique is that Goodwin didn't examined the failed moments these presidents had in office with one exception: LBJ and Vietnam. I think we can learn about leadership from the failures as well as the successes.
Other scholars remind us that presidential greatness is hard to find, and after reading this, this fact still holds true, but Goodwin's easy writing style and important messages can inspire any one of us to be better at what we do.
These four presidents all thought about something bigger for the country, held a strong vision of where they wanted to take the country, and asked the people to help. It seems many top-level politicians don't think in these terms, or if they do, they don't have humility or empathy.
One critique is that Goodwin didn't examined the failed moments these presidents had in office with one exception: LBJ and Vietnam. I think we can learn about leadership from the failures as well as the successes.
Unsurprisingly, I really enjoyed this exploration of 4 great American leaders - Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. This book charts the rise of each man and his early beginnings, the crucible each faced that forged their path into leadership, and the defining moments that marked their legacy. She ends with an epilogue of sorts, that follows them from the presidency into death for two, and the untimely and tragic deaths of the other two while in office. The third part could have been done without the self-help/business book style of neat headlines to teach you a lesson but aside from that minor critique I would highly recommend. I've devoured much on Lincoln (though I always learn something new) but particularly enjoyed learning more about the other men for whom my knowledge is not great (LBJ in particular).
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I've read many of her other books and really like them all so I was excited to read this one. This is really a composite book, that describes the lives of 4 presidents, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and Johnson. I love the sequence of talking about the childhood of the 4, then moving on to their individual times of adversity before concluding with examples of their leadership and the lessons to be learned from them.
I really enjoyed reading about Lincoln, the two Roosevelts, and Johnson. I found it interesting to discover the background of each of them and how much an inner motivation made them successful in reaching the job of President. The book also covers conflict that they had during their time in office and a little about their deaths.
An interesting look into the leadership strategies of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and Lyndon Johnson, especially during perilous times. I appreciated learning about the different presidents more and comparing their approaches to big problems. For instance, does the leader shape the times, or do the times make the leader? How much is adversity necessary to gain leadership skills? The author doesn't necessarily answer these questions explicitly, but the stories of these presidents shed light on some possible answers.
I did feel it was a bit disorganized, as the author flips between the four presidents so often that it was hard for me to remember where each one left off in the story. I think I prefer deep dives on a single figure, such as the author's biography of Lincoln, Team of Rivals. That said, putting their stories together was interesting and gave me much to think about.
I did feel it was a bit disorganized, as the author flips between the four presidents so often that it was hard for me to remember where each one left off in the story. I think I prefer deep dives on a single figure, such as the author's biography of Lincoln, Team of Rivals. That said, putting their stories together was interesting and gave me much to think about.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I marked this book to read after hearing about it on election day. It was an entertaining listen as an audiobook. The voice actors do an excellent job. At first I thought learning about four different presidents in a single book would feel rushed, but the level of detail was engaging and gave me just enough detail to determine which historical periods I want to dive deeper into.