"Elizabeth I CEO"
by Alan Axelrod

Category: Non-fiction / Business
251 pages; ISBN: 0-7352-0357-1

Rating: 9/10  (Ratings explained)
Reviewer: Judith Woolcock Colombo

Review

When I was a child and studied world history, I was taught to regard Elizabeth I as the greatest monarch England ever had. As I grew and read more about her I came to admire her as an example of courageous and intelligent leadership. I admired her as the woman who took a bankrupt and dissolute nation and turned it into a prosperous and productive one.

Elizabeth took a nation impoverished by wars and began, with her famous “No more war my lords” speech before parliament, to build it into a vast Empire especially with England’s acquisitions of lands in the Americas. Of course, like every leader her actions started a chain of events that had diverse future consequences, some wonderful for her nation but terrible for other nations that became ensnared in England’s Empire building.

However, no one can really argue that Elizabeth was not a wise and prudent ruler given the age in which she ruled and the nation that fell into her hands at the age of twenty-five. Although many of her tactics of absolute rule could not be applied in a modern nation, her methods of accepting responsibility not only for her own actions and those of her subordinates but in commanding the love and loyalty of her people are unparalleled by many a modern leader. Elizabeth ruled not by doing what was best for herself or the nobility and wealthy citizens but by doing what was best for her people, the common folk who she truly cared for. They in turn adored her calling her Good Queen Bess.

In “Elizabeth I CEO”, historian Alan Axelrod has taken many of the traits and practices Elizabeth used to turn the fortunes of a nation around and applied them to the running of a modern business. Axelrod states, "You can learn that being a leader is being a leader, whether your enterprise is a Renaissance kingdom, a small business, a major corporation, a corporate department, or a three-person work group with a job to do."

Axelrod uses Elizabeth's behavior and words to map a blueprint for corporate survival, personal image building, staff development, control, and success. The author uses 136 examples from Elizabeth’s life and rule to make specific points. Each of these points is illustrated by incidents taken from Elizabeth’s life and by her superb speeches before parliament, the dons at Oxford or the clergy. Many of the examples such as the ones illustrating pointers such as “Survival Is Never About Panic””, Control The Message Not The Messenger”, or “Taking The Path Of Creative Compromise are valid applications of Elizabeth’s principles of rule to modern business practices.

However, other pointers, such as “Getting Your People In Line” which applied Elizabeth’s endeavor to get the Bishops to enforce unification in the church, unsuccessfully applies an example which however valid in Elizabethan England, cannot be used as an example in modern business.

There are a few of these stretches in the book, nevertheless “Elizabeth I CEO” works not only because there are many interesting and successful comparisons between how this remarkable woman ran a successful country and a modern business leader building a successful company, but because to many people the life and rule of this woman is a fascinating example how one can rule creatively and ethically.

One thing you will learn from this book, and that is to rule a nation or a company and to rule it well is an extremely difficult task. It was even more so in Elizabeth’s day when dissatisfaction with one’s rule would not lead to impeachment, but imprisonment in the tower and execution.

I really liked this book, but perhaps not for the reason it’s author intended. I am not interest in running a business or carving out a corporate empire. I never have been. However, I have always admired courage, honesty and conviction. Elizabeth I was a woman and ruler that embodied all of these qualities. In a time when Kings and Queens ruled by Devine rule, she genuinely cared for her people and wooed them, moving among them and listing to them. Often she refused the easier path and traveled the difficult one because it was the correct thing to do. This book brings that aspect of Elizabeth’s reign to light. In fact maybe this book should be handed not to corporate CEO’s or managers, but to presidents and prime ministers. I highly recommend it.