Architecture of Leadership

by James M. Loy

Book Overview

The Architecture of Leadership is a simple but effective toolkit for leaders, whose main theme is "preparation = performance." Using the elements of architecture, they begin with a foundation of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591144744
• ISBN13: 9781591144748
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Personality Traits of Good Leaders in a Nutshell

An easy and enjoyable read, this book lays out what one might also call "the anatomy of a good leader". The authors start out with some of Dwight Eisenhower's ideas on leadership and take them a step further. And you can believe these two authors - each of them has a solid background on the subject of leadership, but in an entirely different way: Donald T. Phillips has written extensively on the subject, and Admiral James Loy has himself practiced leadership in a variety of top government positions - as commandant of the US Coast Guard, as head of TSA, and more recently, as deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security. "The Architecture of Leadership" breaks down the various components of what makes a good leader, and it groups these components into the following three categories: - Native ability: The skills you were born with. - Opportunity: Occasions that present themselves for you to lead. Look around you. You probably know many people who would be great leaders if given the opportunity to lead. Conversely, history is full of people who had leadership thrust upon them - or who thrust themselves into the situation - and who did not have what it takes. - Knowledge of your craft: what skills you have developed, and in particular those that pertain to your craft. So what is a body to do? Well there isn't a whole lot you can do about native ability. And different opportunities may come along in different shapes and forms. And you can create some opportunity - but by and large, opportunity is also serendipitous. For example, we probably would have never heard of Eisenhower had World War II not occurred. What you CAN do is work on the knowledge of your craft. Then, given the opportunity to lead, and assuming you have at least some of the talent required for good leadership (for example, IQ or risk tolerance), you will do a good job. Another thread in this book is that there are certain fundamentals that have to be present - for example, honesty and commitment. If a leader is not trusted by those he leads - and if he or she is not committed to the cause, there's very little he or she can do to compensate. Without the fundamentals, you might as well just give up trying to lead. The book presents a lot of good case studies illustrating good leadership. Subjects include George Washington, Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. And also quite relevant - and interesting - are the various quotes the authors use throughout the book. One of my favorites is this one from Thomas Edison: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." One area where I would have liked to see more elaboration is in the list of personality traits the authors lump into the category of native ability. Some of what they list may actually may not be traits that you are born with, but traits that you acquired very early in life. But the result is the same - in either case, there isn

A great primer for the next generation of corporate or military leaders

Donald T. Phillips and Adm. James M. Loy, USCG (Ret) combine forces to deliver a wonderful primer on leadership in "The Architecture of Leadership: Preparation Equals Performance". In this book, the authors use the framework of a house to describe the essential elements to successful leadership. As most people are familiar with the basic concepts for constructing a house, the authors use famous leaders to provide anecdotes to exemplify the trait or ability for that chapter. The authors did an outstanding job choosing culturally diverse leaders in this book. As examples of these great leaders, the authors highlight contributions of Mohandas Gandhi, Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, RADM Grace Hopper and Clara Barton. Both authors are credentialed to speak on leadership. Phillips is a successful author, publishing numerous books on leadership, such as "Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times". Adm. Loy served more than 45 years in federal service, culminating his military service as Commandant of the Coast Guard. He later served as Deputy Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. With the subtitle of "Preparation Equals Performance", it is no surprise the book uses Loy's service during the Hurricane Katrina Relief operations as the "roof" of the house. The model presented is very straight-forward and effective in reinforcing the main points of the book. This book is a great leadership primer with applicability to leaders in all walks of life, not just the military. It would be a great addition to the reading library for the next generation of corporate or military leaders.