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Title: Lessons from the Top : The 50 Most Successful Business Leaders in America--and What You Can Learn FromThem by JAMES M. CITRIN, THOMAS J. NEFF ISBN: 0-385-49344-4 Publisher: Currency Pub. Date: 17 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.12 (26 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Dissapointing -- Major resources; poor result
Comment: The authors -- with Spencer Stuart (www.spencerstuart.com) -- had access to some distinguished (Lou Gerstner; Andy Grove, Bill Gates) and some not so distinguished (Bernie Ebbers, Ken Lay) CEOs, and they used Gallup to conduct series of interviews and polls trying to get some insights as to what makes some CEOs successful. What the authors produce are a series of capsules (2-4 pages for each CEO) which are descriptive of the CEOs and companies but have very little analysis.
It is in failing to use the resources at their disposal and access to some remarkable people to draw significant insights, that makes for the biggest shortfall of the book. One may just as well read a description of the CEOs or the companies in a business magazine or the Wall Street Journal.
There are no unique insights to be gained from this book. Yes, some of the CEOs provide some discussion points based on their experience, but much of the space is devoted to their company's specific problems at a particular time (thus leaders of questionable integrity, such as Ebbers and Lay were included).
What in my opinion the authors should have done is go above the specific company experience and focus on the qualities of these interesting individuals and show what has allowed them to have such significant impact on the business world and out society.
Unfortunately such insights are absent from the book. What a pity!
Rating: 5
Summary: A great window into leadership of Americas Industry Titans.
Comment: I have seen an early edition of "Lessons From the Top". Remarkably, "Lessons From the Top" brings America's Corporate Board Room to the rest of America. As a former Assistant Corporate Secretary for what was at the time, America's largest outside Board of Directors, I had the unique opportunity to participate in strategy sessions and become acquanted with captains of US business.
Now, I am happy to say, the rest of America is provided this special opportunity with a glimpse into some of the country's finest corporate leaders. "Lessons from the Top" takes a look at what makes these 50 industry leaders tick and how their actions and skills have contributed to their leadership success.
The access afforded these authors is impressive, as is the statistical selection process utilized to select the participants.
The book is clearly organized and valuable lessons may be learned as we take this book with us on our business travels.
I recommend it for everyone who is interested further insights into leadership skills for work and extra-curricular activities.
Rating: 3
Summary: Lessons From the Top
Comment: James Citrin and Thomas Neff compile a set of business anecdotes from the results of their exhaustive surveying, hoping to convey the important lessons of 50 of America's top business leaders. Each leader profile has interesting personal details, a leadership "philosophy" to lead off the profile, and examples to help detail how the profile has made them successful.
What's particularly telling is that all the Leaders are chosen based upon the authors model of what a good business leader is -- that is, they "load" the deck by having asked who is first to come to mind when specific categorical questions are asked, such as "commitment to diversity". (They included the questions used in the initial survey, which was used to narrow the field to 50 Leaders.) Note, however, that leadership in management has been defined as how well they are able to get people to willingly adopt, follow and achieve their vision, and these questions ask nothing of that.
Also, it's weighed by company financial statements and "fame" of Leaders. Smaller companies with great Leaders will not get mentioned. For example, there is a small company in Los Angeles, that, in 2000, earned $500,000.00 per employee, by putting customers first, employees second and ownership last. Insisting that continued education was paramount to the success of the company, he sent a young manager to his alma mater, CalTech, for post-graduate work. He was always heard saying: "Customers first! Change is good! Have fun!" and his employees followed suite and found ingenious ways to improve quality, save money and enjoy work -- and they did it because they loved the president. That's LEADERSHIP.
The real surprise among smaller surprises is that an astonishing number of Leaders did not stay at their jobs for long (although, an equally astonishing number have been at the same company virtually all of their career). This suggests that loyalty is not a Leadership trait. (Note also that most of the companies had been wildly successful, long before the Leader arrived.) Another surprise is that very few of the Leaders earned advanced degrees, some earning honorary degrees (perhaps for charitable contributions to the school?). The richest man in the world, Bill Gates, didn't graduate from college??? Just shows how having a spectacular product will make you look like a great leader (Disney! Mobil! Campbell's Soup!) Why, even disgraced Enron CEO Ken Ley is among the Great.
What wasn't a surprise is that most Leaders attributed their success to a customer-based, quality-driven philosophy. That is, what quality professionals have known all along (and said much more succinctly by Eli Goldratt): the key to making money now and in the future is to make customers happy now and in the future (and making employees and suppliers happy now and in the future). Read Dr. Deming's 14 Points, and you'll see that every Leadership trait described in this book is accounted for in Deming's quality philosophies.
"Write what you want to read" was advice given to the authors, but was it sage advice? The book, 430 pages long, reads like a 50 section fluff piece on people that may not have given them the time of day, but not for being raised to the stature of 50 Best. The first three chapters, which outline the surveying and the structure of the book only show how eager the authors are to make nice with the big boys. They should've discarded the advice, and taken some from the Leaders: "write what your CUSTOMERS want to read".
Last comment: the Lesson Learned, supposedly a synopsis of what can be gleaned from the Leaders profiles, sums it up with Six Core Principles, strangely without mentioning the most frequently mentioned Leadership mantra "Please your customer". With that glaring omission, I can't see how the authors learned any Lessons from the Top.
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Title: The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers : The Guide for Achieving Success and Satisfaction by RICHARD SMITH, JAMES M. CITRIN ISBN: 1400047943 Publisher: Crown Business Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman ISBN: 0684852861 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 05 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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Title: Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes by Sydney Finkelstein ISBN: 1591840104 Publisher: Portfolio Pub. Date: 29 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: How to Think Like a CEO : The 22 Vital Traits You Need to Be the Person at the Top by D. A. Benton ISBN: 0446673072 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
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Title: The New Pioneers: The Men and Women Who Are Transforming the Workplace and Marketplace by Thomas Petzinger ISBN: 0684863103 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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