Mergers have affected railroads in ways few other industries have experienced, and in the last 50 years they have steered the business direction of American railroads. Leaders Count brings readers the dramatic story of how the Aurora Branch Railroad, which spanned from Aurora, Illinois, to Chicago, grew and developed into the modern-day BNSF Railway. The story begins with the many ways railroads shaped and settled the country and tells how the founders’ commitment to their dreams ensured the railroad’s success. The profiles of tenacious leaders like James J. Hill, known as The Empire Builder, and Matthew Rose, current CEO of BNSF, will inspire readers. This is a case history of the business strategies that have taken this company from its humble beginnings to the industry giant that it is today. More than 75 photos from the company’s extensive archives accompany the story of BNSF’s evolution. As one of the largest and most successful of U.S. railroads, BNSF Railway is a vibrant example of today’s freight railroad industry. While the book provides a brief history of railroads in general, including the five principal companies making up the present day BNSF, its focus is on the critical decisions and strategies implemented by its leaders, choices that ensured the railroad’s survival.

The conventional wisdom purveyed by the press and television and accepted as true by most politicians is that elections throughout the democratic world are personal clashes between individual presidential candidates and party leaders. Almost everyone assumes that election outcomes are frequently determined by the major candidates' personal characteristics. In the United States, Al Gore in 2000 came over as aloof and arrogant­­and failed to win his expected victory. In Great Britain, Tony Blair in 2001 came across as dynamic and personable­­and won a second term. So personal charisma appears to yield electoral success. This study by eminent scholars on both sides of the Atlantic suggests that the conventional wisdom is wrong. Survey research conducted in recent decades indicates that relatively few voters are swayed by candidates1 personal characteristics. Far more important are voters' longstanding party loyalties, their views on issues, and their judgments of how well or badly presidents and parties have performed­­or will perform­­in office. The votes of even the few electors who are swayed by candidates' personalities usually cancel each other out. As a result, election outcomes are seldom decided by individual candidates' personal images. Occasionally, but not often. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton owed their election victories more to economics than to charm. At the end of World War II, the charismatic Winston Churchill lost the 1945 British general election; the colorless Clement Attlee won. Chancellor Helmut Kohl remained in power in Germany for a generation-but was never personally popular. Russian voters reckoned that Boris Yeltsin could not hold his drink- but nevertheless elected him. The implications of the authors' analyses are profound. They suggest that modern democratic politics is not nearly as candidate-centered and personality-oriented as is often supposed. They also suggest that parties' policies and their performance in office usually count for far more than the men and women they choose as their leaders. Not least, the authors suggest that the efforts of political consultants, advertising agencies, and spin doctors are often misdirected.

From hiring, firing and promoting to responding to major corporate crises, from day-to-day encounters to long-range strategic planning, Perry covers virtually every aspect of leadership and provides the means to get the job done-and done well.

An instant national bestseller! Stanley McChrystal, the retired US Army general and bestselling author of Team of Teams, profiles thirteen of history’s great leaders, including Walt Disney, Coco Chanel, and Robert E. Lee, to show that leadership is not what you think it is—and never was. Stan McChrystal served for thirty-four years in the US Army, rising from a second lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division to a four-star general, in command of all American and coalition forces in Afghanistan. During those years he worked with countless leaders and pondered an ancient question: “What makes a leader great?” He came to realize that there is no simple answer. McChrystal profiles thirteen famous leaders from a wide range of eras and fields—from corporate CEOs to politicians and revolutionaries. He uses their stories to explore how leadership works in practice and to challenge the myths that complicate our thinking about this critical topic. With Plutarch’s Lives as his model, McChrystal looks at paired sets of leaders who followed unconventional paths to success. For instance. . . · Walt Disney and Coco Chanel built empires in very different ways. Both had public personas that sharply contrasted with how they lived in private. · Maximilien Robespierre helped shape the French Revolution in the eighteenth century; Abu Musab al-Zarqawi led the jihadist insurgency in Iraq in the twenty-first. We can draw surprising lessons from them about motivation and persuasion. · Both Boss Tweed in nineteenth-century New York and Margaret Thatcher in twentieth-century Britain followed unlikely roads to the top of powerful institutions. · Martin Luther and his future namesake Martin Luther King Jr., both local clergymen, emerged from modest backgrounds to lead world-changing movements. Finally, McChrystal explores how his former hero, General Robert E. Lee, could seemingly do everything right in his military career and yet lead the Confederate Army to a devastating defeat in the service of an immoral cause. Leaders will help you take stock of your own leadership, whether you’re part of a small team or responsible for an entire nation.

Recently plagued by gridlock, huge deficits, and deep policy differences, Congress has often been the target of relentless and bitter criticism. Asking how the House performs its legislative functions in such a context, political scientist Barbara Sinclair traces the emergence of a House majority party leadership that is highly active and deeply involved in multiple aspects of the legislative process.

Rules & Tools for Leaders has guided hundreds of thousands of leaders, showing them the ways to create and maintain growth and profitability. From hiring, firing and promoting to responding to major corporate crises, from day-to-day encounters to long-range strategic planning, Perry covers virtually every aspect of leadership and provides the means to get the job done—and done well. Along with a thorough understanding of group dynamics, business models, and ethical practices, Rules & Tools for Leaders also features invaluable checklists and guidelines—providing everyday tools to put the tried-and-true rules into effect.

"I believe in John Edmund Haggai and am thrilled with the tremendous results I've seen in the lives of leaders." --Chuck Colson Bestselling author, founder of Prison Fellowship "The Influential Leader" is a powerful book on leadership from a visionary who has trained more than 60,000 people in 177 countries through the Haggai Institute. While other books on leadership focus on "methods," which unfortunately must keep changing as time goes on, this book focuses on "characteristics" that are at the core of successful leadership and will endure no matter how times change. Haggai's call to strong leadership looks at 12 characteristics for aspiring leaders, including... humility communication vision goalsetting self-control opportunity staying power authority Readers will learn how they can become leaders who influence people, inspire results, and accomplish great things for God.