Wess Roberts; Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun

[SFG75]

I remember when this book first came out and it was a cult favorite in business and education administration circles. I went to a huge book sale this past weekend and finally got a copy of this book.

The author freely admits taking some liberty with the "facts" of Attila's leadership points. Each chapter is a slim few pages with stand alone bulleted items to highlight important concepts. One of the early items that was a bit surprising, was the focusing on not forcing things to happen, but rather, to wait until the right time to assume leadership. Roberts highlighted Attila's time as a "prisoner" in a Roman court. While he loathed the Roman lifestyle, he made it his goal to learn everything he possibly could about the Roman civilization in order to conquer it. Likewise, I have heard from innumerable people in management positions, how and why they decided to make the jump that they did. I believe this early emphasis on timing will stand out to anyone who has done the same thing. A great example of this would be to have the desire to become a manager after being under a completely incompetent person.

Other key concepts including rewarding people based on merit, not on closeness to you and not feeling threatened by such underlings. Roberts says Attila would utilize a more *constructive* relationship withe lower leaders, as opposed to strict discipline. To him, Attila had to have used a lot of time to help groom leaders and to help them progress. I found this a bit "touchy feely" to believe about the old big guy, but who am I to argue? Who is John Galt?

This book contains some pithy pointers to definitely think about if you are in the business world or if you hold a management position in other work settings. This would be an incredible book to read among co-workers and managers respectively. I will say however, that I was terribly disappointed in the lack of commentary regarding how to pillage, sack, plunder, and obtain the nickname "scourge of God" by those who have the unfortunate circumstance of crossing you.

[thischarmingman]

actually sounds excellent.

Originally Posted by SFG75

I remember when first came out and it was a cult favorite in business and education administration circles. I went to a huge book sale this past weekend and finally got a copy of this book.

The author freely admits taking some liberty with the "facts" of Attila's leadership points. Each chapter is a slim few pages with stand alone bulleted items to highlight important concepts. One of the early items that was a bit surprising, was the focusing on not forcing things to happen, but rather, to wait until the right time to assume leadership. Roberts highlighted Attila's time as a "prisoner" in a Roman court. While he loathed the Roman lifestyle, he made it his goal to learn everything he possibly could about the Roman civilization in order to conquer it. Likewise, I have heard from innumerable people in management positions, how and why they decided to make the jump that they did. I believe this early emphasis on timing will stand out to anyone who has done the same thing. A great example of this would be to have the desire to become a manager after being under a completely incompetent person.

Other key concepts including rewarding people based on merit, not on closeness to you and not feeling threatened by such underlings. Roberts says Attila would utilize a more *constructive* relationship withe lower leaders, as opposed to strict discipline. To him, Attila had to have used a lot of time to help groom leaders and to help them progress. I found this a bit "touchy feely" to believe about the old big guy, but who am I to argue? Who is John Galt?

This book contains some pithy pointers to definitely think about if you are in the business world or if you hold a management position in other work settings. This would be an incredible book to read among co-workers and managers respectively. I will say however, that I was terribly disappointed in the lack of commentary regarding how to pillage, sack, plunder, and obtain the nickname "scourge of God" by those who have the unfortunate circumstance of crossing you.

[olivia751]

Hello,

thanks for the book. Its really great book about the leadership secrets.




Regards,
Olivia

Leadership Books
Jimclemmer.com

[chiangmaifalcon]

I read both this book and the second book, More Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun. At the time I read them I was in a supervisory position and found them to be helpful, but I think more based on common sense than Atttila the Hun. I have read much about the Huns and Attila and I do not believe his leadership principles had much in common with those described in the books.

[burnsrunner]

I liked a lot of the topics covered in the book. I was wondering if there is a specific business/book related thread, maybe with a list of good books to review.