Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Great leadership is more than meets the eye. Prime Leadership: The Science and Practice of Leadership in Transformers uses the epic war between Autobots and Decepticons to explore evidence-based leadership concepts that apply well beyond Cybertron.
Part of the Exploring Effective Leadership Practices Through Popular Culture series, this book challenges leadership myths and translates established theory and current research into memorable lessons through iconic characters and stories. Optimus Prime shows how transformational, ethical, and servant leadership can inspire commitment and improve performance. Megatron reveals how destructive leaders abuse power and toxic personalities poison an organization from within. Together with characters drawn from across the Transformers franchise, they demonstrate how followers help shape the leadership dynamic, how effective leaders adapt to complex situations and develop others through mentorship, and how high-performing teams are forged.
Through examples from films, animated series, and comics, readers gain a deeper understanding of leadership as a process and learn research-backed approaches they can apply in their own roles.
For leaders, educators, students, and Transformers fans alike, Prime Leadership makes leadership science accessible, engaging, and practical.
Peter is an accomplished scholar in the psychology of leadership with decades of real-world leadership experience and a talent for making complex ideas clear and relatable. He brings research, practical insight, and pop-culture wit together in an engaging and memorable read on how leadership really works.
— Rick Jacobs, PhDEmeritus Professor of Psychology, Penn State, and former CEO, EB Jacobs
Fun and educational! Prime Leadership has the substance you’d expect from a leadership textbook without reading like one. You don’t have to know Transformers or leadership theory to get a lot from it. Peter uses characters, choices, and relationships to make abstract ideas concrete and shows why pop culture is a useful lens for understanding leadership. I’d assign it in a college course and recommend it just as strongly to managers and emerging leaders.
— Matt C. Howard, PhD, Professor and Department Chair, Mitchell College of Business, University of South Alabama
Prime Leadership makes evidence-based leadership concepts accessible and genuinely enjoyable to explore. The Transformers examples do more than entertain; they tackle leadership myths, reveal how dysfunction takes hold, and offer fresh ways to see influence, judgment, followership, and teamwork in action. Practitioners will gain insights they can use, students will want to keep reading, and educators will find a compelling way to connect theory with practice.
— Lawrence Houston III, PhD, Assistant Professor of Management, C.T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston
Totally rad read! Peter delivers humor, style, and unforgettable leadership lessons anyone can learn from! Prime Leadership is a smart pick for managers and a total blast for newcomers and “classically trained” Transformers fans.
— Chris Clews, Keynote speaker and author of the popular book series The Ultimate Series on Essential Work & Life Lessons from ’80s Pop Culture
Truly ‘more than meets the eye,’ Peter’s genius blend of top leadership research and meticulous Transformers lore is both exceptionally entertaining and sneakily educating. Two big metallic thumbs up.
— Paul S. Lieber, PhD, Pop Culture Reviewer at Impulse Gamer and Chief Data Scientist at Leidos
Peter J. Reiley, PhD, is an organizational psychologist and leadership educator who has led organizations and developed evidence-based leadership practices across military, corporate, nonprofit, and academic settings for more than two decades. He is the founder and Principal Consultant of Leadership Arts & Sciences and teaches in Pennsylvania State University’s Psychology of Leadership master’s program. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, his research and applied work translate behavioral science into practical strategies that build stronger leaders, more effective followers, and high-performing teams.
Chapter 1. Roll Out! An Introduction to Leadership Through Transformers
Chapter 2. Forging the Matrix of Leadership
Chapter 3. The Touch! Power and Influence in Leadership
Chapter 4. Transformational Leadership: Prime Practices of Exemplary Leaders
Chapter 5. Ethical Leadership: The Right of All Sentient Beings
Chapter 6. Servant Leadership: No Sacrifice, No Victory
Chapter 7. Followership: More Than Meets the Eye
Chapter 8. Transforming Your Leadership Approach to Meet the Situation
Chapter 9. Till All Are One! Building and Leading High-Performing Teams
Chapter 10. One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall: Battling Evil Forces in the Leadership Dynamic
Chapter 11. The Wisdom of the Primes: Mentorship in Leadership Development
Chapter 12. Using the Matrix of Leadership to Light Our Darkest Hour: A Summary of Lessons