The Nameless King is a book written by Artemios Miropoulos, Managing Director, Linkage Greece and made of 25 stories of Leadership from Ancient Greece that link history to modern corporate reality. The stories deal with different traits of Leadership such as building high potential teams and company culture, leading in crisis, talents and succession planning, Women Leaders, innovation and behaviors such as resilience, trust, and fairness.
The Nameless King makes you hover over unknown, intriguing aspects of history and relate them to today’s reality: most of us have seen Leonidas kicking the Persian messengers into a well yelling This is Sparta in the movie 300, (2007). Don’t you want to know what happened next? How many know that the whole Athenian army had to run the Marathon race or what’s the parallel between Steve Job’s Apple and Sparta or Alexander the Great and Howard Shultz’s Starbucks. And most important what’s in it for us today!
“Craig and I separated, and as I walked slowly away the first drops of a late autumn rain started to fall. In my mind I saw ninety-three lion heads sticking out their tongues. I am sure one of them smiled mockingly at me”
The Lions Dribble – The Nameless King
Thought Leaders
The Nameless King should be standard reading for all aspiring leaders as well as an inspiration to those searching for a life of purpose and meaning. Artemios Miropoulos shows how a powerful story is the path to purposeful leadership.
Richard Leider – International best-selling Author
The Nameless King focuses on the importance of leadership through the ages and how great leaders emerged, under the most incredibly tough situations. The fact that someone is running a large organization or serving in an influential role, does not qualify him as a leader. A leader´s job, is to define reality and give hope. This is a book that should give clear examples of leadership, to those who lead and do not have all the answers.
Nando Parrado – Best-selling author of Miracle in the Andes, 2010 “Best Speaker in the World” World Business Forum
Fifteen stunning stories of Leadership that our history books fail to mention. Artemios Miropoulos excavates human behaviors and traits of leaders that are surprisingly valid in today’s daily challenges. The Nameless King is a powerful read that brings the wisdom and insight of centuries to our professional and private lives.
Mike Abrashoff – Author of New York Times best-seller, It’s Your Ship
Miropoulos has written a captivating and edifying collection of insights on important connections between Ancient Greece and successful leadership today. A worthy and engaging read that will both excite and challenge today’s leader!
Marshall Goldsmith – Author of the New York Times and global best-seller, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
Sometimes you read a book and you can’t put it down. Artemios has done that and more. The Nameless King is a book that you’ll want to read over and over again and give it as a gift. The stories contain lessons for living and leading. Historical research that will leave you wondering why you didn’t know it. Masterful and wonderful prose that is easy-to-read, hard to forget.
Phil Harkins – Author of Powerful Conversations, Skin in the Game and Everybody Wins: The Story & Lessons Behind Remax
Miropoulos captures the spirit of ancient Greece in this collection of inspirational stories and reminds us of the benefits that both Greeks and philhellenes enjoy as a result of the contributions of our forefathers. Indeed, the entire modern world gains greatly from the insights that history and archaeology provide.
Jack L. Davis – Carl W. Blegen Professor of Greek Archaeology, University of Cincinnati
Artemios is a master storyteller. One of the best! Pulling from ancient Greece, he has curated some of the most compelling historical moments, weaving them into engaging stories that make powerful points about leadership and life. This is one of the few books that you will truly enjoy reading while mastering new skills.
It seems today that everyone is looking to the latest and greatest high paid guru for their insights. We think that someone is going to come down from a mountaintop with some new brilliant idea that will revolutionize our business. The reality is most of the best ideas have already been developed. And the most fascinating thing which I discovered in reading. The Nameless King is that they are not even in modern day history. We can study ancient history…go back to ancient history to really understand what are the things that we can do as organizations today to be more successful. It is a fascinating read with incredible stories… I highly encourage anyone to take a read if you really want to understand some ancient wisdom and apply it to your modern-day problems.
Stephen Shapiro – Innovation Guru & best-selling Author
Business Leaders
“The book “The Nameless King” brings out clearly and vividly the features that are required by a modern leader, inspired by famous historical events of our ancient history. Despite the fact that both genders are equal, in many societies, as well as in Greece, the woman is not represented in leadership positions in accordance with her qualifications and the proportion of women in the total population. This is why highlighting the individual leadership skills of women and their promotion to business environments is a major issue in our days. Out of this amazing book, I would like to stand out as my favorite chapter, the one Artemis Miropoulos devotes to Artemisia, a symbol of women’s dynamism and capacity.”
“The combination Artemis made is really unique and mostly interesting. We all may have heard something about the way Alexander the Great led his army or how Pericles inspired the Athenians, but Artemis did not follow the easy way: He chose unknown stories of that era and he described them like a fairy tale. And then he set up the link with management lessons, in a way that each story remains exciting and at the same time educating. Isn’t that how teaching should be?”
“When I first read the book over a weekend, I decided to offer it as a gift to my broader Management Team, and distributed it over a Friday meeting. It was not a surprise when, on Monday, more than half the people had read the full book and quoted examples during the meeting of Monday morning.
It was one further proof, that the leadership examples chosen by A. Miropoulos , presented in a way that catches the full attention of the reader,are relevant not only over time, but , too, in most aspects of everyday and business life.”
“An essay that fits perfectly in our time that the world is looking for a bright and inspiring Leader to believe in and follow. The reference in the Nameless King may show us the way to the lessons of the past and to the contemporary way forward based on them.”
“A journey at times where cleverness, inventiveness, passion for excellent, ethics, courage, fighting spirit, intelligence, fair competition and all the timeless values that are even today important in the modern world, were synthesized in their original form and had the clearest, juvenilia concept. A journey to ancient eras and heroes who changed the course of history and created the world, leaving us a priceless heritage! The book I read was a valuable journey for all who lead or want to lead with creativity and aim excellence! We would like to thank Artemis for the time invested and for the book he shared with us!”
“Take my word: if it’s late in the evening and you’ve got an important meeting early next morning, don’t open this book. It is so compulsively readable that you won’t be able to extricate yourself from the web of its stories until well into the night.
Artemis’s narrative is sensationally vivid and evocative: by craftily laying his words, line after line, the story-teller recreates the sights, the voices and the smell from battlegrounds and bustling market places to pull you into the different world of each historical moment he touches on. The author’s pen conjures the atmosphere and emotions of heated moments in time with such vigor that that soldiers’ pounding hearts are audible; the dust from the feet of the Athenian army running to catch up with the circumventing enemy that was threatening their city seems to rise from the pages of the story of the “Marathon for your Life”. The sounds of clashing weapons and cries from the Salamis sea field where the Greek and Persian fleets engaged in combat back is far-distant 480 B.C., ring true.
Evidently knowledgeable and genuinely enlightening about the past, Artemis captures and conveys in the present the very same moral dilemmas and intellectual struggles of kings, commanders and public officials of eras bygone, which are faced today by corporate executives, heads of businesses, officials in the military or creative directors. The engrossing historical detail paints the background wherefrom Artemis extrapolates lessons about how to inspire, motivate, discipline and help those in your care grow into their full potential; lessons about how to be guided and lead others by higher values in navigating the waters of today’s fiercely competitive business and social environments. Ages-old images and characters are well-drawn, but each of this book’s stories goes deeper and contains messages of personal and professional ethics for men and women at the helm of teams that are both subtle and strong.
To put it in a nutshell: open this volume -a rosary of stories, stupendously illustrated-, and you’ll be enthralled. Get your hands on it one evening and get a day-off the morning after to rest and ponder on what you’ve read”
“Best mix ever!! Ancient and contemporary leadership!!!”
“I am loving this book. I am learning so much history while at the same time learning about leadership!”
“Mr. Miropoulos acknowledging the complexity of the topic, uses simple stories to guide us in a deep dive on Leadership. I extremely admired and appreciated the way he invites us in a virtual dialogue on each story, expressing his personal view, feelings and conclusion using simple and sincere words, avoiding to provoke or guide us. I read his book after a 14h flight; I started barely keeping my eyes open, and soon I felt refreshed and full of energy – as we always feel when we find new interesting and useful knowledge !
Mr. Miropoulos speaks a lot about simplicity on his leadership story: “An Apple for Sparta”. His book is a perfect example of simplicity in writing about Leadership“
“Ι came across three surprises while reading “The Nameless King”. First: A pleasant surprise of the writing style and language, transmitting the familiarity of an experienced author of dozens of books. The second surprise was that it made me feel like I was walking, side by side, with the Historians Xenophon and Plutarch, in the straights of the ancient Agora, exchanging examples and ideas, arguing on Leadership challenges and cultures and styles and behavior of their times vs our times. The third was that I thought I was reading a contemporary resume of one of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, although “The Nameless King”. addresses parallel links, perceptions and deeds of leadership styles, cultures and behavior. “The Nameless King” treats history, language and leadership values with equal respect.”
“We asked Artemios to address Leadership in his key note speech in Brink’s 1st European post covid conference in Athens. Artemios through his unique story telling blended modern leadership with ancient Greek stories in order to make relevant for Brink’s 2022 Strategy. It was a huge success”
Get a taste from the book
…and then a couple of Abrashoff’s key messages shone on us all: first, authority is a myth of management. Instead what is really happening is a relationship of pure interdependence between the leader and the team, a give-and-take pact vested in mutual respect. Second, only an elite team can provide extraordinary achievements, and you need to treat this team in an elite manner by bending or even totally disregarding the system at times. When it’s pay time, leaders had better watch it and act generously as there is no room for discounts or hierarchy-related excuses. Few leaders in the history of mankind have asked so much from their men as Alexander the Great…
Inspired by Michael Abrashoff ’s book It’s Your Ship, the adventures of Alexander the Great and the Starbucks, the story talks of Leaders who decided to break or bend the rules in order to reward their men and women for their extraordinary efforts and accomplishments.- Do you agree we should break or bend the rules in order to reward our people for extraordinary efforts and accomplishments? What are the dangers of breaking the rules?- Have you ever bent the rules to reward someone? How did it work?
…however the most intriguing and fascinating commonality is that both Apple and Sparta turned simplicity into art. One of them connected the beauty of leanness to power, the other to technology.
A comparison between Steve Jobs’ Apple and ancient Sparta. A praise to the merits of Focus, Purity and Simplicity.
– In what situations have Focus, Purity and Simplicity been an asset and where have they been a hinder?
– What are the opposites of Focus, Purity and Simplicity, do you take sides? Is it a matter of choice, culture or DNA?
Once there was a woman who was a commander of a squadron of five warships. History says she fought bravely and Xerxes, the King of Persia, deeply appreciated her as his most precious fleet commander although she never had to share his bed. She gave the king valid advice that he did not follow; if he had the history of Europe would need to have been rewritten. Her name was Artemisia and this is her story.
A story on Women Leaders and their potential
– Do Women Leaders truly differ from men?
– Why are there so few women in top positions in business or society? Will it always be like that?
“We don’t know if it’s Nestor’s,” Jack sighed. “We had to name the palace after someone. Although the tablets do tell us that this place was called Pylos, the truth is we can’t be sure of the king’s name. In the tablets he is referred to as “wanax, O ANAΞ, THE KING” In all this affluent literature of a thousand tablets there is not a single reference to the actual name of the king.”- A King without a name.
Do Leaders afford to play “low profile?” Restrain from networking, neglect to build their own personal brand? – What are the implications of being humble and avoiding the lights of publicity? Is this compatible to the role of a leader? To what extend?
Peeking into the past underneath the plaster floors of these sixteen holes at the Palace of Nestor, one will see that there is a gap in history. There was a time when humanity was not at its best; however people then strove to survive, and held tight, worked hard and hoped their children would do better. It was a springboard in history, a still moment before success. It is the belief that things will change, that teams and societies will rise to unexpected heights after long periods of decline and hardship that a leader must sense and have faith in.
Underneath the masterpiece floors of a palace contemporary to the Trojan War, lies another one which, archaeologists say must be even better!
– Does quality performance come as a result of a steady progress? Do we have the resilience and patience to keep our faith and support when people fail us with the hope they will finally succeed?
– What is the balance between a speedy reaction and resilience? Which choice is the most preferable?
Book Illustration
The Nameless King is richly illustrated with the original work of two young artists, Ennio and Vasilis who have created these works exclusively for the decoration of this volume.
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