Toy Box Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child

I just finished Toy Box Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child...somewhat flawed but a good book nonetheless.Flawed may be a bad word to use for this book. The idea is a great one (more on it later) but the narratives about the lessons could have been stronger. In addition, I noticed some editorial issues (spelling, words out of order, etc) which I wholly attribute to the publisher / editor for not catching.That said, I love the ideas presented in this book.The main idea of this book is this:Think back to the toys you had as a kid. Think about LEGO, Play-Doh, Mr Potato Head, the Yo-Yo...all those things we used to play with when we were younger (and maybe we still do play with today?). The ideas learned from these toys can be used as leadership lessons. For Example:* LEGO - using the idea of LEGO bricks, the authors present the idea of connectedness. Connecting the right people together in business is essential. Connecting the right businesses together is also important.* Play-Doh - This great toy can be shaped and made into anything. The same can be true of organizations...a great leader can shape the organization to meet future goals. There may need to be lots of different experiments done to find the right shape, but it can be done.* Rubik's Cube - The author's use the Rubik's Cube as a toy that describes ethics. While I tend to disagree with that premise, it does make a great toy to demonstrate strategy & tactics. You know where you want to get to (all sides with same colors) and you have to determine the tactics to get there (which turns to make and in what order).While not perfect, I'd suggest this book to anyone looking for new ways to think about leadership, strategy & business.

This is my favourite leadership book and I have recommended it to several people who are new, or struggling, in leadership positions. I discovered it while studying leadership and this was the easiest to read and remember. Each section is important but Mr Potato Head stands out - that flicker of response across your face at moments interacting with people is what will cement your relationship with them. If you look irritated instead of sympathetic due to a family crisis disrupting your plans, people will see you as heartless and will withdraw. Show sympathy first then reorganise and people will respect you.

Old fashioned just became fashionable again. By growing up, we tend to lose those simple life's lessons that Hunter and Waddell remind us of throughout the book. Think about it the next time someone tells you to "Grow Up." This is the kind of leader I strive to be.The authors simply tell us that the sum of a group, including the leader, is greater than the whole when networking with others that surround us.How refreshing to not have to learn something new for us to excel as leaders.

This book is a quick-read and a wonderful tool to use for small-group team-building, leadership training, and a "fresh" approach to learning leadeadership principles. The analogies of the toys for each of the leadership principles are relevant and insightful. My team had a meeting last week, and our boss brought in all of the toys and had them spread out over a long conference room table. Although we only worked with 4 of the Toy Box Leadership principles, the interest is there for exploring the others as well. I highly recommend it!

Good Book... A little sexist if you ask me and I am not someone who usually sees that.

Very interesting read - bought this after a conference that used this for the speaker's presentation. Great way to understand the leadership styles.

I use this book as part of a college wide supervisor training. It is a great tool that allows us to use some visual and tangible items. This book has proven to be a great conversation piece for thought provoking discussions on leadership.

good