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Rating: 
Summary: Can one person really be this smart?
Review: "How to Act Like a CEO" captures the strategic business savvy of Corporate stars! Like everything else written by D.A Benton, this book provides us with insight into the minds of industry leaders. I have yet to read a book by any other author that even remotely compares to this treasured information. Bravo, Ms. Benton...you have done it again!
Rating:
Summary: BINGO!
Review: D. A. Benton's expertise got me a promotion. Thanks!JMC
Rating: 
Summary: Where is the beef?
Review: I did get one soundbite that I hope I can use in my life from this book, "Be yourself, unless you're a jerk". However, I got so tired of: be nice, have integrity, be an example, on page after page I was only able to make it through half of the book. All of that is important, but they covered that quite well in kindergarten. If you pick it up to read on the plane bring a backup book; you will need it.
Rating:
Summary: Where is the beef?
Review: I did get one soundbite that I hope I can use in my life from this book, "Be yourself, unless you're a jerk". However, I got so tired of: be nice, have integrity, be an example, on page after page I was only able to make it through half of the book. All of that is important, but they covered that quite well in kindergarten. If you pick it up to read on the plane bring a backup book; you will need it.
Rating:
Summary: CEO's: Walking the talk and talking the walk
Review: In How to Act Like a CEO, Debra Benton interviews CEO's from a broad range of industries, and then sets out the common elements that brought their power and success. In ten chapters - reflecting the ten rules for getting to the top - she intersperses her own assessment of how those success secrets work. Included are insights, advice and quotes from CEO's on everything from integrity to the CEO as number one salesman for the company. Although the title suggests that "acting" is a CEO focus, and the book includes a chapter full of advice on just that, much broader leadership territory is covered. The chapter on integrity - "Be Yourself, Unless You're a Jerk" - is the first chapter and also the most compelling. You can act like a CEO, but the act will collapse without the continous practice of the highest integrity. As leadership books go, How to Act Like a CEO comes down heavily on the side of long hard work in every aspect of your career. You must work at getting better every day. You must be passionate about your career. You must act like a leader and be of good cheer - even when you don't feel like it. This is a demanding book! Fortunately, some of the ten rules - "Cut Through the Junk" and "Keep Good Company" - call for maintaining a healthy balance between work and play, and delegating effectively to take the pressure off. The CEO's interviewed come across as somewhat harried, but insisting on having fun, looking for opportunities, and emerging as the heroes of of any crisis - with many a war story to tell. How to Act Like a CEO is an energizing work. It tells you how hard it is, but then gets you to see how you can meet the challenges that you think you can't. It belongs on the bookshelves of leaders everywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: No startling revelations
Review: The book presents itself as a semi-scholarly work, synthesizing interviews with 100 CEOs into a meaninful set of commandats for those that want to act like the big boss. On an academic level, this is fraught with peril - How do we know these are the right CEOs, and do they really articulate what makes them succeed? Business books have a history of weak scholarship (think In Search of Excellence) but still can contain great ideas. The 10 less than profound results:
1 - Be Yourself, Unless You're a Jerk
2 - See Around Corners
3 - Make Dust or Eat Dust
4 - Make the Big Play
5 - Keep Good Company
6 - Be the Number One Fund Raiser and Protecter
7 - Act Like a CEO When You Don't Feel Like It
8 - Evangelize the World
9 - Go Big or Go Home
10 - Cut Through the Junk All this is good advice, but did you need to ask 100 CEOs to come up with it? Ultimately, the book resides in my restroom. It's good for a couple minutes a day of reminding me what I should be doing, but nothing that requires hours of in depth study. It's a light read, but not really the blueprint to the executive suite.
Rating: 
Summary: Management Theory Lite
Review: The book presents itself as a semi-scholarly work, synthesizing interviews with 100 CEOs into a meaninful set of commandats for those that want to act like the big boss. On an academic level, this is fraught with peril - How do we know these are the right CEOs, and do they really articulate what makes them succeed? Business books have a history of weak scholarship (think In Search of Excellence) but still can contain great ideas. The 10 less than profound results:
1 - Be Yourself, Unless You're a Jerk
2 - See Around Corners
3 - Make Dust or Eat Dust
4 - Make the Big Play
5 - Keep Good Company
6 - Be the Number One Fund Raiser and Protecter
7 - Act Like a CEO When You Don't Feel Like It
8 - Evangelize the World
9 - Go Big or Go Home
10 - Cut Through the Junk All this is good advice, but did you need to ask 100 CEOs to come up with it? Ultimately, the book resides in my restroom. It's good for a couple minutes a day of reminding me what I should be doing, but nothing that requires hours of in depth study. It's a light read, but not really the blueprint to the executive suite.
Rating:
Summary: No startling revelations
Review: This book is dull and does not unravel anything that the average person who can rise to the top cannot derive on its own - if you are just graduating from college, this may seem appropriate, if you've been around in the business world - seek other material. One reading suggestion, which is light and very simple, but a good reminder of what's required is the book by Lencioni: " The 5 temptations of a CEO" - worth an hour while waiting at the airport between flights.
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