Nothing to Fear: Lessons in Leadership from FDR

By Alan Axelrod

Axelrod, author of the bestselling leadership guides Elizabeth I CEO and Patton on Leadership, distills Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life into 14 leadership themes: Purpose and Principle; Change;... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591840147
• ISBN13: 9781591840145
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Portfolio
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.1" x 5.7"

Customer Reviews

Nothing to Fear: FDR

This book has given me a new perspective on FDR. I recommend this to anyone in a leadership role. President Roosevelt is such an inspiring leader and his perseverance through the hardships of the time show how important he was and is to American politics. While I am not a supporter of a welfare or socialist-type state, FDR took the steps necessary to get our country back on its feet. Alan Axelrod has done another wonderful job illustrating an American icon I feel every person in this country should get to know. Maurice Pipkin

Roosevelt 101

I usually detest these types of books, which are written by business executives trying to pose as top-flight historians. But I was surprised and pleased by Axelrod's approach to FDR, and this would be an excellent book for people new to Roosevelt. The author assembles various quotes from Roosevelt and then applies them to real life situations we all face and fret about. Of course FDR was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and was a spoiled, coddled young man. The polio that struck him at the age of 39 was the great leveler and it transformed Franklin from a "feather duster" into a truly great man. Axelrod leads the reader down the path of Roosevelt's life, dispensing the major details and eliminating all the superfluous fluff. This results in a tight, well-written book.It's fashionable in today's political climate to trash Roosevelt and trot out oodles of mis-information about the greatest President of the 20th century. Thankfully, this little book sets the record straight on a great and essential American.

Axelrod Again in Top Form

Those already familiar with Axelrod's previous works already know that he possesses a unique talent for recognizing and then examining with meticulous care especially effective qualities of personality and character in great leaders such as Elizabeth I and George S. Patton. I recently read two separate but related books, this one and Celia Sandys and Jonathan Littman's We Shall Not Fail: the Inspiring Leadership of Winston Churchill. The connections between Roosevelt and Churchill are numerous and significant. Some doubt remains as to how close their personal friendship was but there is no doubt of their mutual respect as together they and their respective nations faced what once seemed certain defeat by the Axis powers in World War II.The title of his book is obviously derived from Roosevelt's memorable assertion that "the American people have nothing to fear but fear itself." In fact, of course, there was much to fear as German armies swept across Europe, conquering and then occupying one country after another. It is almost incomprehensible that while still emerging from the Great Depression, the U.S. became fully involved in two different major wars, one in Europe and another in what is generally referred to as "the Pacific." Roosevelt had only recently begun his third term as president when Pearl Harbor was attacked and was dead before World War II ended. Axelrod suggests a number of lessons about which can be learned from Roosevelt performance as president, observing that "For FDR leadership was practical inspiration or inspired practicality. Take your pick; the two are impossible to separate, and you cannot tell where one leaves off and the other begins." These lessons are arranged according to fourteen different themes which provide the book with its structure. Axelrod explains that the order of the themes "does not reflect the chronology of Roosevelt's life and career, but it is intended to build a coherent picture of FDR as a revealing model of leadership values, ideas, skills, traits, tactics, and strategies. Within each theme, however, the leadership lessons are deployed in chronological order." As is also true of Axelrod's analyses of Elizabeth I and Patton, the material in this book is cleverly organized as well as brilliantly presented. I especially appreciate his selection of appropriate statements by Roosevelt which help to illustrate key points. Here are a four brief excerpts which are representative of Axelrod's thinking and writing."A key to Roosevelt's leadership was his genius for seamlessly joining idealism to practical action. For him the perfect piece of legislation, the perfect social program was one in which it was impossible to tell where theory stopped and practice started. They were one." (pages 3-4)"A leader signals in many ways that he is in touch with those he leads: He acknowledges the needs and concerns of the organization. He acknowledges and praises the achievements of the institution. he demonstrates that he