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Kandel on leadership
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October 6, 2000: 9:10 a.m. ET
Looking for a manager role model? Two new books offer lessons from history
By CNN Financial Editor Myron Kandel
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A seemingly endless array of management books is being published these days, all of them purporting to offer priceless advice on how to be an effective business leader. Two that have especially caught my eye offer lessons from two very disparate people.
 One of them is Moses (you know, the fellow from the Bible), described by the author of "Moses On Management," as the greatest manager of all time. The other is England's Queen Elizabeth I, (remember her from all the movies), described as the ruler who took her nation "from the bottom of the European barrel to the summit of the world's great powers."
Both books, despite some hyperbole, are worth reading and provide some real insights on what made those two towering figures so effective and what lessons modern managers can learn from them.
Elizabeth and Moses both overcame great odds that would have overwhelmed lesser mortals. She was part of a dysfunctional family (what an understatement!) and was lucky to keep her head while all around her were losing theirs. She was a woman in a man's world; she refused to wed; she was surrounded by schemers, and she weathered numerous plots against her. Alan Axelrod, the author of "Elizabeth I, CEO," published by Prentice Hall Press, says her 45-year reign "has much to say to those beginning their climb up the corporate ladder as well as those who, having attained the top rung, do not want to slip from it."
 The author of "Moses on Management," published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, is Rabbi David Baron, founder of Temple Shalom for the Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. He says a modern headhunter would have dismissed Moses out of hand. Imagine, he notes, hiring a manager whose profile includes the following aspects: reluctant to lead; possessing of a stutter; distant; prone to long mountaintop vigils; temperamental to the point of smashing corporate-mission statements; and settles disputes though swift, violent means.
Nevertheless, Rabbi Baron points out, Moses bested a mighty Egyptian monarch; led 600,000 slaves to freedom; created the ethical foundation for three great religions that have survived to this day, and developed an extended management team that carried on after his departure. The rabbi lists 50 leadership lessons that can be learned from the life of Moses, ranging from bringing your staff out of the slave mentality and making them into believers to standing up for your people and staying focused on the big picture.
Axelrod, whose previous book was "Patton on Leadership," cites lessons from Elizabeth on ten key leadership areas:
- A leader's first lesson: survival.
- Creating a leadership image.
- Combining the common touch with the air of leadership.
- Creating common cause without tyranny.
- Building a loyal staff -- and a loyal opposition
- Growing the enterprise and crushing the competition.
- Turning crisis into triumph.
- Holding on to the power.
- Doing business without excuses.
- Winning -- and what it means.
It's only fair to point out that Moses never reached his objective -- the Promised Land, and that Elizabeth failed to provide properly for a successor. Still, in both these books there's a lot of wisdom that has stood the test of time. 
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