Shakespeare in Charge: The Bard's Guide to Leading and Succeeding on the Business Stage

This slim easily-read volume organises and extrapolates Shakespeare's wisdom on modern business matters, particularly with regard to situational leadership, change, operations, risk and crisis management- all through managing people. Even several MBA programmes, a gauge of current business thinking, include `Shakespeare management' courses.The engaging, insightful and informative contents include:* Act I- on leadership- relating to Henry V's intuitive inspirational leadership in beating the vastly larger French forces at Agincourt, with lessons for today including: be poised and ready to exploit opportunities, have courage and determination, have clear vision and goals, closely examine details, encourage straight talking and listen clearly, be competent in company's field of activity, and set example caring for team.* Act II- confronting change- relating to Petruchio's search for fortune by taming the rich shrew Kate following personal tragedy- turn misfortune into opportunity, set a few clear goals and pursue heartily, don't diversify too far beyond core competencies and change one thing at time, establish change as normal, implement change quickly and boldly, and have a broad flexible plan to cope with future uncertainties. * Act III- organising operations- relating to the assassination of Julius Caeser- recruit the best for key positions (determined by personal attributes, job skills, motivation, teamwork) avoiding boastful job-churning "assistant to, consultant or advisors", succession planning, manage complexity of a "thousand actions" towards goals, effective use of communications (know topic, preparation, be concise, avoid "no comment" or "off the record", go hi-tech, prepare for leaks), attention to detail and management of people.* Act IV- risk management- relating to Portia's management of husband-created severe risk in Merchant of Venice- risk is necessary for success, analyse in light of alternative options, seek facts and be wary of validity, act toughly, do not risk all, and understand & manage consequences.* Act V- crisis management- relating to Claudius and Hamlet- always be prepared for a crisis, assess customer verdict (good or bad), have crisis team in place in advance, report promptly appropriate information to the public, have a crisis centre, practice crisis plans, be quick, include an outsider in team, maintain operations during crisis without distraction, and let intuition & honour guide you.* Epilogue- for life and corporate management- recognise and manage existing assets, assume responsibility, guard credibility, build strong and flexible mergers, select friends and colleagues carefully, recognise frailties and encourage development, prepare for crises and recover quickly, be fiscally responsible, and finally prize reputation. The few weaknesses include the occasional typos and grammatical errors, and the lack of bibliography assisting further exploration of this concept.

I generally do not like busines books that are built around historical or fictional characters. The analogy in most cases is superficial and of little interest. On the other hand, I love it when Peter Drucker draws on examples from a hundred or more years ago. Interestingly, this book permits a timeless series of reflections that feels a lot like reading a Drucker example. I can remember thinking of analogies to my own life when first reading Shakespeare, so the idea of having a successful leader draw leadership lessons from Shakespeare made immediate good sense to me. Also, it occurred to me that when strong themes continue from Shakespeare to today, that is probably a good sign that we should all pay special attention. We are probably in contact with something very fundamental about human nature. That was a new and useful thought to me. On the other hand, I suspect that we all find ourselves in Shakespeare so anyone who writes about the lessons of Shakespeare is really drawing a portrait of themselves. In this interesting book, you will find a portrait of Norman Augustine, someone who is a modern exemplar of fine leadership qualities. I found myself looking forward to seeing what areas the authors would decide to portray about Shakespeare. I also enjoyed rereading material that I had not seen in twenty or thirty years. I found the lessons that related to personal character to be especially good reminders that good character is what ultimately draws us to others. Further, the authors provide their own lessons throughout, drawing from the examples in Shakespeare as well as modern cases. That gives a lot of useful perspective. I found that I did no know the modern cases, so they added to my enjoyment of the book. At the same time any good reviewer would have to note that many people will find this book hard to read, particularly as the authors shift back and forth between modern and Shakespearean English. If you have that reaction, I suggest that you slow down and read aloud if you want to get the most benefit from the book. Also, you can also skip some sections if you are getting more the Bard than you like. If you are not a big Shakespeare fan, you may not like this book. There's a lot of subtle humor there for those who like puns. I do, so I was laughing throughout. You might want to read a few pages first to see how you react. On the other hand, if you do not read Shakespeare in Charge you will miss the opportunity to get new insights into and from some of Shakespeare's best stories, such as Henry V, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Simply because a book provides some reading challenge is no reason to ignore it. Anyone who has skipped Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past would have avoided a tough read, but missed a remarkable learning experience. Shakespeare in Charge presents such an opportunity. I have read and enjoyed Norman Au

I loved Lincoln on Leadership and this is in the same vein. Not stuffy or preachy but lots of real business stuff and easily linked to Shakespeare. I can use the lessons and quotes and plan to do so.

Adelman and Augustine obviously have a great grasp of both the business world and of Shakespeare. And though seemingly an odd combination, the authors make Shakespeare and business leadership work well together. This book puts a unique and fresh slant on a topic which craves creativity. Excellent!

This book is classy, and informative. I was surprised that Warren Buffett, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Michael Armstrong, and Sam Donaldson each gave the book "five stars" and lavish praise. I had never seen them give a book any blurb, let alone ones so effusive. Miramax, producer of "Shakespeare in Love," won seven Oscars for that movie. Now that it published "Shakespeare in Charge," it deserves seven similar awards for this book. I agree with B & N. This is headed for the bestseller list, and really should be there.