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Toy Box Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child | 
 enlarge | Authors: Ron Hunter, Michael E. Waddell
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $8.21
You Save: $11.78 (59%)
New (30) Used (6) from $8.21
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 79160
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0785227407
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4092
EAN: 9780785227403
ASIN: 0785227407
Publication Date: July 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Reach back into your childhood and recapture the leadership principles you learned from your favorite toys. What can LEGOS teach you about building your business through connection? How can Slinky Dog demonstrate the value of patience when you're growing your organization? What has every little boy learned from his Little Green Army Men that he can use in business strategy? Whether you are an executive, a manager, or a parent, in Toy Box Leadership you will find the toy box a great place for lessons to successfully influence and lead others.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 From the editor of leadingtoday.org December 19, 2008
Toy Box Leadership is an unusual book written on a fascinating premise. The common toys we used as children can teach us valuable lessons about leadership principles. Your first reaction may be skepticism or even ridicule toward this simple premise. But once you open the book and start reading, your apprehension will turn into appreciation.
This book examines some of the most fondly remembered toys of childhood including LEGO Bricks, Slinky Dog, Play Doh, Yo-Yo, Rocking Horse, Little Green Army Men and others. These toys subliminally taught us about the basic nature of leadership, and recalling their designs and function may remind us of leadership qualities we lost along the way to adulthood.
Toy Box Leadership dedicates a single chapter to each beloved toy of one's childhood. It analyzes the traits that made the toy interesting and playful. Then the authors draw powerful analogies from the toys to communicate important leadership lessons. For example, after telling the reader about the history behind LEGO bricks and how they are manufactured - they ask us "how many ways can you arrange six-studded LEGO bricks? In an astounding 915,103,756 different positions." The authors follow this question by discussing how building relationships begin with connecting. This is not done superficially, as they dedicate many pages to pull rich meaning from the aspects of each toy. You will be impressed with the excellent assessment they provide.
This enlightening book is truly different from many books written about leadership today. It is a very short read, but you will be taken back to the days when life was simpler. You will also learn new lessons from some of the toys you once loved.
Great Book December 4, 2008
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new fresh look on Leadership skills. The use of toys we know as kids, is truly a great way of letting the reader see insight into leadership skills, through things that you can relate to and have already learned as a child.
I have also had the opportunity to hear Mr. Waddell speak in person, and I would highly recommend his book or him as a guest speaker.
Memorable Ideas and Concepts for Leaders Who Mentor November 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are looking for memorable ideas and concepts that will help develop leaders in your organization, Toy Box Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child by Ron Hunter Jr. and Michael E. Waddell is a great resource. Very creative, the book is a collection of leadership principles drawn from ten classic toys like LEGO Bricks and the Slinky Dog.
As a leader who develops leaders, I am always looking for memorable concepts that are easily taught and will become part of the language of the organization. Toy Box Leadership is a book that will not end up buried in a stack. Instead, these ideas will find their way into my workshops and training sessions.
Something for the ladies September 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a busy, professional woman, mother, and grandmother, I carefully pick and
choose the books I have time to read. Usually, these are thick, work-related
ones or tall, slender children's books. When I saw Toy Box Leadership, my
immediate conclusion was that the grandchildren would love the pictures! On
second thought, I realized that the text might be useful to me, a business woman
who is always seeking more ways to grow personally and professionally.
But why should I purchase a book with such obvious ideas in it? I was shocked to
look inside for those juvenile ideas, only to find well-written suggestions for
developing leadership and professional skills.
I had never considered the Slinky Dog to be more than a child's birthday
present, which always seemed to last longer than most toys, and was cute as it
could be. But here I was, confronted with the idea of leading with vision from
the front end of projects, waiting for my co-workers to catch up, and hoping I
would not stretch the poor dog to death to the detriment of my project.
At first, I also thought that writing about such a subject meant using
condescending language, but Hunter and Waddell managed to avoid that trap by
using well-thought out ideas, attaching useful, practical values to them, and
writing with personal and well-researched skills. They also wisely kept from
overusing the analogy of a toy's relationship to its lessons.
I recommend the book for those who know that they need to read about developing
more or new leadership skills without being bogged down with volumes of the
usual rules. In Toy Box Leadership, rules are related to real life, which is
related to what we do for a living. I intend to make this book a must-give one
on my lists. And, I will also begin to look for those toys which my
grandchildren have seen on the cover but don't already have!
Great Lessons in Life August 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book accomplishes in a few short pages what countless management/leadership textbooks have tried and failed to do over many decades! It ties the key leadership traits to easily remembered analogies that help spur leadership actions into real life solutions in seconds when seconds matter most. How I wish I had this book in my possession when I first started my military career in 1978! It should be made mandatory reading for all leaders/managers in all walks of life! If you don't read this book, I assure you your competitors will; and they will be eons ahead of you in their professional careers! If you are not a leader or manager, I assure you there are great life lessons in how to properly treat people on every page of this book! Besides, it's just fun to read!
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