Toy Box Leadership.

Book Review

Hunter, William P. Waddell, Michael E. Toy Box Leadership. Leadership lessons from the toys you loved as a child. Thomas Nelson. 2008

Comment. Henry
The analogy of taking characteristics of toys and drawing leadership lessons from their functions could be considered cute, clever or something else. It probably won’t work for everyone who picks up this book. Certainly the leadership principles being discussed are valid and to be reminded of them is timely.

Leadership lessons learned from ‘lego’ focus on connectional value, connectional ability and connectional failures. The slinky teaches that “more than any other leadership trait, vision pulls an organization forward by giving it direction”. (22) The limit of this pulling action must be respected lest the ‘elastic limit’ is surpassed.

We learn from Play-Doh the importance of being shaped as leaders. Mentors are a part of this shaping. To be shaped properly requires that the leader (that which is being shaped) be shapeable. From the yo-yo we discover the principle of creativity. “The most important creative freedom by far is the freedom to fail.” (62) Be knowledgeable about killers of creativity. Mr. Potato Head teaches us about facial communication in relationships. Eight ‘specific faces’ are discussed.

The importance of ethics is associated with the popular Rubik’s Cube. “The rocking horse illustrates the faulty belief that actions equal progress.” (109) Some interesting “checkpoints” (128) are suggested that are drawn from the games involving toy soldiers. They include involvement, assessment, placement, development and refinement.

The last two toys that are credited with teaching leadership lessons are “lite-brite” (144) and “weebles”. (162) The first has to do with communication and the second illustrates endurance.

Note: By way of explanation, many of the reviews I do are to give info to a friend who is responsible for the selection of book purchases for the organization he works for. This is one of them. HD