2.0 out of 5 stars
A feeble attempt to make banal cliché interesting, 15 April 2011
This review is from: Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun (Paperback)
This book was briefly in vogue in the 1990s. It was popular because nobody had done anything like this before, not because it was done well. The idea of a 20th anniversary reissue is based on the fact most people are too young to remember it or had forgotten how inept it was.
As a history book it is shallow, though not entirely without interest and mostly accurate. As a leadership book it is pretty trashy. There are plenty of vaguely stated aphorisms that are pretty obvious and can be found in any book on leadership. All of them are totally fake, of course. Roberts made a lot of money by attaching his own mediocre insights to a major historical figure; the best that can be said is that he doesn't pretend that any of this twaddle is genuine. However, to keep up the "mystique", he uses the word "Huns" for "you", "they", "subordinates" and pretty much anything else. This gets pretty tiresome pretty quickly.
Let's not forget that, within months of Attila's death, his empire was overthrown by an internal rebellion. If your goal of leadership is to create a structure that is only held together by the immensity of your own ego, then Attila might be a good role model for your business career. You could be the next
Robert Maxwell.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Hun, 4 April 2011
The Audiobook is easy to listen to in the car.
The content is interesting.
I give it 4 stars as while its good, it's not great.
I'd prefer to read the book to absorb it better.
The content is too interesting for driver listening (or MP3).
My review, the audiobook is fine, I think i'd prefer the book.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Attila and all that., 21 Mar 2009
An excellent, thought provoking book. Wess Roberts was formerly a member of the US Army Combat Arms Training Board and also an eminent Academic. He uses Attila as a novel and interesting way of getting across points about Leadership. It is primarily a book on Leadership and any references to Attila should be regarded as tenuous. It is definately NOT a historical reference book.
All in all a very good 'read'. Some points raised may be considered controversial but they should be considered in a balanced way when looking at the broad issue of leadership.
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