Harvard Business Review: Interviews with CEOs

Rating:
Summary: That's a great book!
Review: That's a great book recommended for everyone who want to use the best stratagic in their business. This book can make a best reference. I can explore the CEO how to managing and leading the coporate.

Rating:
Summary: That's a great book!
Review: That's a great book recommended for everyone who want to use the best stratagic in their business. This book can make a best reference. I can explore the CEO how to managing and leading the coporate.

Rating:
Summary: Brain Food At a Modest Price for Exceptional Value
Review: This is one in a series of several dozen volumes which comprise the "Harvard Business Review Paperback Series." Each offers direct, convenient, and inexpensive access to the best thinking on the given subject in articles originally published by the Harvard Business School Review. I strongly recommend all of the volumes in the series. The individual titles are listed at this Web site: www.hbsp.harvard.edu. The authors of various articles are among the world's most highly regarding experts on the given subject. Each volume has been carefully edited. Supplementary commentaries are also provided in most of the volumes, as is an "About the Contributors" section which usually includes suggestions of other sources which some readers may wish to explore.

In this volume, there are eight in-depth interviews of current or former CEOs: Jacques Nasser (Ford Motor Company) on "Driving Change"; Roger Sant and Dennis Bakke (AES) on "Organizing for Empowerment"; John Browne (British Petroleum) on "Unleashing the Power of Learning"; Michael Dell (Dell Computer) on "The Power of Virtual Integration"; Sir Colin Marshall (British Airways) on "Competing on Customer Service"; John Sawhill (the Nature Conservatory) on "Surviving Success"; Krister Ahlstrom (The Ahlstrom Corporation) on "Governing the Family-Owned Enterprise": and Michael Eisner (The Walt Disney Company) on "Common Sense and Conflict."

No brief commentary such as this can do full justice to the rigor and substance of the interviews provided. It remains for each reader to examine the list to identify those subjects which are of greatest interest to her or him. My own opinion is that all of the interviews are first-rate. For me, one of this volume's greatest benefits is derived from following the thought processes of each interviewee. Although no doubt edited to some extent, the responses never seem "canned." Having observed most of these executives in person or being interviewed on television, I can attest to the natural flow of the conversations. This is how the subjects think. This is how they express themselves. It should be noted that the interviews are conducted by Suzy Wetlaufer, Steven E. Prokesch, Alice Howard or Joan Magretta. (The interview of Sawhill was co-conducted by Howard and Magretta.) Even those who already subscribe to the Harvard Business Review will greatly appreciate this series because each volume gathers together separate but related articles (previously published in the HBR) on the same general subject. The cost of each volume in the series is relatively modest; the value provided is substantial.