Toy Box Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child
Ron Hunter, Jr. and Michael E. Waddell
Nelson (2008)
Hunter and Waddell create a context for the creation and subsequent popularity of ten toys (i.e. LEGO® Bricks, Slinky® Dog, Play-Doh®, the yo-yo, Mr. Potato Head® and Rubik’s Cube®, the rocking horse, little green plastic army men, Lite-Brite®, and Weebles®) and then, devoting a separate chapter to each of the ten, share thought-provoking insights on leadership lessons to be learned from each. I played with many of these toys as a child and then purchased them for four children and more recently for ten grandchildren. Frankly, the connections that Hunter and Waddell make never occurred to me. Once again, I am reminded of the “invisibility of the obvious.” Consider these representative excerpt from the narrative:
“Being a Play-Doh® person does not mean you are weak, gullible, or even wishy-washy, but rather that you have determined to be molded in positive ways that are essential to their development.” Such people are shaped the way they are because they are receptive to change and being changed, yet have “durable” character because their exact ingredients (i.e. humility, teachability, and desire to improve) allow the substance to have consistent integrity.
Readers will appreciate the skill by which Hunter and Waddell enable their reader to complete a process of discovery and reflection so that as the final chapter approaches, she or has accumulated the basic components of principled, results-driven leadership and can then assemble them as if they were (yes) individual LEGO® Bricks or parts of Mr. Potato. Hunter and Waddell suggest, “When you lay this book down and put away these toys, remember the lessons.” Congratulations to them on a brilliant achievement!
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