Can one person change the world? What qualities determine effective leadership? How do individual talent and historical circumstances combine to shape great leaders?
From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning, multimillion-copy bestselling classic Guns, Germs and Steel, a landmark study of leadership across politics, religion, business, and sports-seeking to decode how and why leaders matter.
"Jared Diamond's erudite, engaging and thought-provoking book takes us a huge step forward toward understanding how circumstances and individual talents, determination and strategy make leaders that have the potential to change our world (hopefully for the better)." -Daron Acemoglu, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
In his acclaimed and influential books Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings, he studies leaders throughout time to answer the question: do the actions of individuals truly influence history? Or is humanity subject to larger historical, technological, cultural, geographical forces, far beyond the influence of individuals, no matter how powerful they may seem?
On 13 March 1930, a truck sped into an intersection, headed straight for another car's right front door. The passenger of this chauffeur-driven car happened to be Adolf Hitler. If the truck had hit the door, Hitler would have been crushed and killed. But the chauffeur managed to accelerate, and Hitler survived. Would tens of millions of people have died in the Holocaust and World War Two if the chauffeur had been slower to react? Some believe Hitler was unique in his evil abilities, while others think the war was guaranteed by the harsh conditions imposed on Germany post-war.
Do leaders like Hitler, Margaret Thatcher, Genghis Khan, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Belichick, or Christ really change our world? If yes, what qualities and circumstances are required of a leader to make their mark?
Drawing on his deep study of the life and career of a diverse cast of leaders famous and obscure- from Botswana president Seretse Khama, to environmentalist Rachel Carson, to legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden-Diamond reveals how leadership effectiveness is determined by a range of complex interrelated factors. Understanding these successes and failures and the opportunities leaders did (or did not) seize illuminates the influence of today's leaders and helps us to reflect on the value of our votes, our faith, our passions, and the people who happen to steer our ship.
With the same remarkable scope of Diamond's classic bestsellers, Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings takes readers on a rich journey through the lives of humanity's most well-known characters to reveal how time, place, and person can come together to change the course of history.
"Democracy is in crisis. At this critical point, we need leadership, not just from charismatic hucksters looking after their own interests, but from those with a vision for the future and moral clarity. But where do leaders come from; how and when do they matter? We know surprisingly little on this question, but Jared Diamond's erudite, engaging and thought-provoking book takes us a huge step forward toward understanding how circumstances and individual talents, determination and strategy make leaders that have the potential to change our world (hopefully for the better)."
- Daron Acemoglu, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics and NYT bestselling co-author of Why Nations Fail
"Through fascinating examples and case studies, Jared Diamond advances a novel argument about how to think of the most complex subject in social science: When do leaders matter? As with all Diamond's books, you'll never see the world in the same way again." - James A. Robinson, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
"Fascinating in its richness of example and provocation to more thought. . . Reaches for one of the great questions: does leadership make a difference?" - Financial Times
"We live in turbulent times, and our societies look to exceptional individuals to navigate us out of crisis. But do leaders matter? And, if yes, what determines a leader's success? A must-read from the grand master of analytic history." - Peter Turchin, author of End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration
"Jared Diamond at his very best. Ranging from kings and conquerors to CEOs, coaches, and prophets, he tackles one of history's oldest questions with characteristic sweep and wisdom: when does an individual truly bend the course of events, and when does the moment carry the day instead? Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings is illuminating, surprising, and impossible to put down." - Nico Voigtländer, Professor of Global Economics and Management, UCLA Anderson School of Management
" In this book Jared Diamond ponders great imponderables with characteristic ingenuity. What if Hitler had died fifteen years sooner than he did? What if Darwin had never been born? How about John Wooden, or a celebrity CEO? The inquiries are fascinating, and sure to produce better dinner-table conversations for his readers." - Ward Farnsworth, W. Page Keeton Chair in Tort Law at University of Texas Austin
"An engaging and insightful set of case studies across very different spheres, asking when leaders can-and cannot-make a difference. Recommended for specialists and general readers alike."
- Steven Pennings, co-author of Leader Value Added: Assessing the Growth Contribution of Individual National Leaders
"Would history have been different if so-and-so had never lived? Diamond's amazing tour through the history of politics, business, sports, and religion shows us that the answer is not as obvious as we may think -- and shows how to use data to figure out the answers." - Benjamin Olken, TEPCO Professor of Economics, MIT
"Diamond takes a jaunty, entertaining look at the roles that individual leaders play-and the limits of those roles in politics, business, sports, and religion. His nimble, irreverent approach and insatiable curiosity lead to enlightening connections that stodgier academics wouldn't notice."
- Kirkus
"In Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings, Jared Diamond considers the impact leaders might have had on the course of their civilizations. . . . Diamond is a wonderfully likable and curious writer. . . . Diamond is always a fun time, and over the decades his writing has shaped the popular history field in a way that must be considered a unique personal achievement." - Dan Jones, The New York Times Book Review
"What determines the success of a society? Is it how mountainous their terrain is, or how diverse their crops? Or do their leaders matter, too? In a surprising turn, Diamond, the author of Guns, Germs and Steel and one of the biggest proponents of the supremacy of geography, thinks: maybe, yes. His new book examines the impact of a number of influential figures, from Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ to the U. C. L. A. basketball coach John Wooden." - The New York Times
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