The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar: Modern Lessons from the Man Who Built an Empire

You’ve heard the saying, “History doesn’t repeat . . . but it rhymes.” In this engaging and insightful book on leadership, Phillip Barlag takes a person who, in our ancient history courses we encountered as opaque and imperial and unpacks Julius Caesar as a person who like us is deeply human, challenged at every turn and yet inspires us through his ability to succeed in the face of overwhelming odds. Again and again.Want to discover Julius Caesar the populist? Surprise, he’s here.Want a Braveheart experience? It’s here.Want to hear how a speech of a single word can quell an insurrection? Caesar did it.Feeling overwhelmed by inter office politics? Try taking on the Roman Senate where losing meant death.Feel like you’re starting with no resources available? I never realized that’s where Caesar started.And oh yes, I think being captured by pirates is a little more of a challenge to your early career than those pink slips going around.Through eight leadership lessons Phillip weaves a single common thread that leaders of all kinds throughout the ages miss at their peril - lead with power, not force. It’s a subtle art that great leaders facing overwhelming odds like Churchill and Lincoln have embodied and used to achieve victory. But it is a leadership art that is also so easy to lose touch with when we begin to rise through the ranks. Thanks to Phillip to bringing that back to us through a an unexpected hero.And yes, Barlag doesn’t call it out as such, but that “Twitter of his day” example (spoiler alert - the Commentaries) is worth the price of the book.

First a disclaimer. I like Phillip Barlag; as a person; as a professional.And I liked this book a lot. Mainly because I learned a lot about Julius Caesar. I found that I loved the ins and outs of how he dealt with conflict and adversaries. I liked that I didn't have to read 400 pages of detailed history about things that really I should be interested in...but I'm actually not. I finished this book with considerably more insight into those times than I had before I read it; and I would advocate this as a good/great read to anyone who likes to have more than a superficial insight into leaders.I didn't read any of the other reviews before posting this one; so I might well be alone in my second point. I completely, totally agree with Phillip's premise that management is management and leadership is leadership and a few thousand years of human evolution really doesn't change how to manage and how to lead. There are a lot of very well thought out management books; and many more that are not. This books premise is that the lessons are not new; the ability to deliver them, however, is not for the faint of heart. Absolutely worth the read

This little book approaches Caesar's life from an unusual standpoint. Rather than following Caesar's career from a historical viewpoint, it plucks Caesar out of his time and examines his life as a leader and how his exercise of leadership applies across time. I found it quite interesting and even refreshing. However, I must point out that Barlag gets some of his historical facts wrong. These inaccuracies do not detract from Barlag's analysis of Caesar and his understanding and use of power. For example: Barlag states that at the battle of Alesia, the Gallic relief army attacked Caesar's outer ring of defenses (the contravallation) and that Caesar split his army in two, one half facing the relief force, and the other half attacking Alesia and hunting down Vercingetorix. Actually, Caesar's army stayed within the two rings of defense and fought off the relief force and Vercingetorix's attack on the inner ring (the circumvallation). Both attacks failed, and Vercingetorix surrendered to Caesar when it became obvious that he could not win. As I stated above though, these historical lapses do not negate any of Barlag's conclusions. Modern leaders, or those wanting to be leaders, will find this book very informative.

Julius Cesar was one of the greatest leaders and influencers in history. The author himself has sat in the table with many high level executives from many different organizations. With his experiences he found that there's many similarities between the best business leaders and the great Julius Caesar. Throughout the book, he juxtaposes the way the executives led and their actions with that of Caesars. It's a little haphazard, so don't expect it to have much structure. It's more of an opinion piece to me, as I would have preferred the author give actual examples of leadership from the executives him and his team has coached. Instead it's more like Caesar led this way, it worked, so leaders should lead this way. Although not particularly memorable, this book would make a good motivational reference.

This book is a must-read for anyone trying to be better in life - personally or professionally. Being "better: is not found in some gimmicky formula or ridiculous slogan. Instead, the mere act of reading this, cover-to-cover, will give you a baseline on how to improve in life. Mr. Barlag is correct that Julius Caesar's leadership style is extremely relevant today. In an era where leadership has become a mere slogan, and executives fail to understand and comprehend what it actually means, Mr. Barlag has revived and made relevant again an essential style that once ruled the world. Buy this book and you will be given a wonderful role model in Julius Caesar and a coach in Mr. Barlag. Both will help you unlock genius in today's world.

I have been reading leadership books for 25 years. What this leadership book does is give you an eye opening history lesson at the same time. I read about Caesar in school and that he was a great leader in Rome. What I didn't know is how he came to such incredible success. Barlag takes a no-nonsense approach of presenting 8 lessons from this ancient and how they apply to today. In a world of instant this and flashy that, it is nice to get down to the basic examples of true leadership. If history does indeed repeat itself you owe it to yourself to take some of these lessons to heart.

Excellent book and as a Julius Caesar fan I knew a lot of where the author got his material. I would recommend to all fans of Julius Caesar and those wishing to understand how to lead. The great man was a genius.

This was really an awesome experience to read about this leader in a completely different manner. Author really have taken a new approach to define the character of Caesar. This is really something a peace of work. A must read for anyone who wants to know about Caesar's another side as well.

Philip Barlag draws deep insights from his research and presents them in a practical and concise way. Caesar is a brilliant case study for today's leaders and I strongly recommend the book.

It's quite amazing to learn that the leadership excellence which he possessed long back which are effective even now.