Ron Hunter - Toy Box Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child

Words of Praise for Toy Box Leadership

Toy Box Leadership teaches us that sometimes leaders should return to the basic nature of quality leadership by unlocking practical lessons from their childhood toys. This book is a guaranteed a best seller.

PAT WILLIAMS
Senior Vice President, Orlando Magic, author of Souls of Steel

Toy Box Leadership made me want to be a young father again so I would have the perfect guide book to do it all over--the right way. Once I read the brief intro in the front of the book I was hooked. I will never look at a Slinky Dog the same way again.

KEN MANSFIELD
Author of The Beatles, the Bible and Bodega Bay and The White Book

Toy Box Leadership serves as a teaching tool and resource that can be invaluable.

DICK VITALE
ESPN

Discovering things we never knew about childhood toys is one of the fun aspects of Toy Box Leadership. Yet, the way they cleverly transmute nostalgia into meaningful lessons of leadership, youd think the authors were Transformers.

SQUIRE RUSHNELL
Author of When GOD Winks At You

Toy Box Leadership does a great job of taking us back to basics and helping us to better understand the importance of the things we learned as we were growing up.

GERALD E. BODRIE
Retired Executive Director, Logistics Operations,
General Motors Corp.

There are dozens of books about leadership, but Hunter and Waddell offer worthwhile leadership lessons in a particularly memorable way.

CARTER KEITHLEY
President, Toy Industry Association, Inc.

Toy Box Leadership will leave its fingerprints on the life of each and every reader.

MATT UPTON
VP of GO Growth and Opportunities,
Bell Tasty Foods, INC

Toy Box Leadership presents a realistic approach to unlocking many possibilities for leaders. I recommend it to all who wish to be a more effective leader.

DR. MELVIN MAXWELL
Founder and President of Park Ministries, Inc.

To build your leadership future, Ron and Michael encourage you to take a look back at your pastat the times and toys of your childhood. Its a great ideaand a great read.

JOH N D. HULL
President & CEO of ISS and EQUIP

I found myself engaged from the very first words. Toy BoxLeadership is practical and easy to digest, yet with depth and meaning that produces value for leaders at every level.

DR. DAN REILAND
Executive Pastor, 12 Stone Church, Lawrenceville, GA.

I never dreamed that toys could be such effective tools for teaching leadership. What an amazing book! The principles in it are powerful.

DOUG CARTER
Senior VP of EQUIP, author of Raising More Than Money

If you think the world doesnt need another leadership book... think again, and read this one.

DR. TIM ELMORE
President of GrowingLeaders.com

Clear, compelling, and chalked full of common sense leadership principlesI couldnt stop reading. Toy Box Leadership will give you the essential toys to lead in the emerging strengths movement.

RODNEY COX
Author of Leading From Your Strengths

Do yourself a favor and revisit your childhood to learn the timeless laws of leadership.Toy Box Leadership is sure to be the most practical, insightful and fun book you read all year!

LES PARROTT, PHD
Author of Trading Places

This book serves up new perspectives and meaningful principles that CEOs and managers will benefit from as they learn to create a more effective workplace that maximizes team spirit and incorporates the best values of the playroom.

STEVANNE AUERBACH, PHD./DR. TOY
Author of Smart Play/ Smart Toys www.drtoy.com

Using simple, well known childhood toys as models, Hunter and Waddell have written a comprehensive book about qualities of leadership, including deep, solid principles and how to apply them.

R. STEVEN COUCH, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University

Finally, a book that conveys truth with humor. I laughed out loud reading page after page of profound principles reduced to their simplest form. I wish every CEO had this book in his or her toy box.

LAURIE BETH JONES
Author of Jesus CEO, The Path, and Jesus, Life Coach

Toy Box Leadership is one of those great books that come along every once and a while to remind us that we can manage the business of grownup life and still enjoy the wonders of childhood. These concepts are so refreshingnot some set of lofty academic theories but rather practical lessons and principles that can transform you from a passive role-player into a dynamic leader.

ANDY ANDREWS
New York Times Best-selling author of The Travelers Gift

2008 by Ron Hunter Jr. and Michael E. Waddell

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

LEGO is a registered trademark of the LEGO Group.

Slinky is a registered trademark of POOF-Slinky.

Play-Doh, Mr. Potato Head, Lite-Brite, and Weebles are registered trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Hasbro, Inc. is the exclusive licensee for the Rubik's Cube trademark in the United States.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hunter, Ron, 1967

Toy box leadership : leadership lessons from the toys you loved as a child / Ron Hunter Jr., Michael E. Waddell.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7852-2740-3

1. Leadership. I. Waddell, Michael E., 1968 II. Title.

HD57.7.H8784 2008

658.4'092dc22

2008002251

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 QW 5 4 3 2 1

Dedication

From Ron

I dedicate this book to my wife, Pamela, who is my best friend and partner in life.

From Michael

This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, R. Eugene Waddell, whose humility was surpassed only by his integrity.

Contents

Toys have always been a representation of life. The first toys many of us played with as children were likely little cars, baby dolls, or small workbenchesall models of real life. We copied our parents by doing the things we saw them do, like hammering away at a plastic workbench, driving a Matchbox car down an imaginary freeway, or rocking a baby doll to sleep.

In each case, we utilized actions we would likely use when we grew up and held a real baby, drove a real car, or worked at a real workbench. As children, we played with toys just for fun, but behind the fun we learned how to deal with the reality that was to follow those formative years. The interesting thing about these valuable lessons is that they were all unintentionally learned from toys.

As children, we played with things just for fun, but behind the fun we learned how to deal with the reality that followed those formative years. While people recognize the value of many skills being learned through play, the area of early learning gained through playing with toys that is often the most overlooked is the area of leadership.

As adults, we complicate the principles of leadership with the latest trends or popular theories when in actuality some of the most important lessons we have learned were from the simplest sources and at a very early age. In other words, without consciously knowing it, our childhood toys have already taught us some of the most important leadership lessons we need to succeed.