The Book of Management Wisdom: Classic Writings by Legendary Managers

Book Description

Michael Eisner, Jack Welch, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie- imagine that you could consult at will with the world's greatest business managers, past and present, whenever you were faced with a crucial management decision. The Book of Management Wisdom lets you do just that. This unique resource offers insight into how these and scores of other legendary business managers have triumphed over the conflicts, challenges, and dilemmas that come with the territory. Never before have the deepest insights of such a large and diverse group of brilliant managers been collected into a single informative and inspiring volume.

The Book of Management Wisdom brings together the essays and speeches of more than fifty of the most successful business managers of all time and presents their ideas, tips, and management secrets in their own words. Drawing on their personal experiences, these world-class managers offer a range of practical advice, case studies, humorous anecdotes, and management philosophy. You'll hear from Sam Walton on creating a corporate culture, Lee Iacocca on his famous skip meetings, and Michael Dell on his "campaign of internal evangelism." Klaus Luft details what American CEOs can learn from German management; Harold Geneen describes the essential qualities of great managers; and Thomas Watson weighs in on what growth and change have taught us. These are just a few of the major figures who reveal fascinating details of their characters and personalities as they educate, enlighten, and entertain you with their often surprising views on the most compelling issues faced by managers in every corner of the business world.

For easy reference, these essays and speeches are organized into eight categories, each of which highlights a certain set of management tools and techniques and how to use them. These include essential qualities of great managers; productivity, empowerment, and conflict management; hiring, firing, and day-to-day management; the power of technology; lessons from around the world; evolution of the organization; bashing bureaucracy; and reengineering and transformation. Each essay is preceded by a brief introduction that places it in historical perspective and offers interesting and insightful information about the author's life and career. Highlighted passages call your attention to each author's most pithy, profound, or quirky ideas.

Offering timeless wisdom and practical advice from the most successful business managers ever, The Book of Management Wisdom is must reading for managers at every level, from the junior executive cubicle to the presidential suite.

Praise for The Book of Management Wisdom

"This book is worth referring to time and again for enduring truths that transcend the turbulence of the business landscape." -Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, University of Southern California,and coauthor, Co-Leaders: The Power of Great Partnerships

Pearls from The Book of Management Wisdom

"Dealing with conflicts lies at the heart of managing any business. As a result, confrontation facing issues about which there is disagreement can be avoided only at the manager's peril."-Andrew S. Grove

"Never hire your friends. I have made this mistake three times and had to fire all three. They are no longer my friends."-David Ogilvy

"It's absolutely essential to let your people express themselves. And that means letting them make mistakes. You've got to allow them to walk into your office and say, 'Boss, I blew it.' That's called growing."-Lee Iacocca

"For us, the issue wasn't whether people would waste time on the Internet, but whether they would use the Internet enough. Not to become completely familiar with a transformative business tool like the Internet is just foolish-especially when it's an integral part of your company's strategy and competitive advantage."- Michael Dell

"A society which values MBAs, lawyers, and financial wizards over engineers and product planners is moving in the wrong direction."-Akio Morita

Customer Reviews:

A Truly Unique Resource.......2000-11-04

Peter Krass has edited the Wisdom Series series which includes this volume. Each anthologizes brief essays by different "icons of business." A brief bio of each author precedes her or his essay. In the Introduction, Krass asserts that "Management boils down to this: Whether you're into management-by-walking-around, management-by-objective, management-by-exception, or management-by-crony, it's the attitude to the job that matters most.. He then suggests that "The Legends included [in this book] offer a complete arsenal of techniques, ideas, and instructional anecdotes" to help you address your own needs. Krass organizes the 53 essays within the following framework:

Part I: Essential Qualities of Great Managers

Part II: Productivity, Empowerment, and Conflict Management

Part III: Hiring, Firing, and Day-to-Day Management

Part IV: The Power of Technology

Part V: Lessons from Around the World

Part VI: Evolution of the Organization

Part VII: Bashing Bureaucracy

Part VIII: Reengineering and Transformation

Of the 53 essays, the ones I found most valuable are "How to Make Confrontation Work for You" (Andrew S. Grove), "Creating a Culture" (Sam Walton), "Managing Creativity" (John Sculley), "Managing Crown Princes" (David Ogilvy), "Friction Freedom" (Esther Dison), "The Mind of the Strategist" (Keniche Ohmae), and "Removing Walls" (John F. Welch, Jr.). A wide range of individuals discuss an even wider range of business issues. My suggestion is to select a topic or two of greatest interest and dive in. Because business circumstances can so often change so rapidly and (sometimes) unexpectedly, what you learn from what you read today may well help you to prepare more effectively for an uncertain future in which a new peril or opportunity emerges. Moreover, my guess is that there will be several other essays in this book to help you then, also.

I have reviewed most of the other volumes in this series and also recommend each of them highly.

Unique resource offering timeless wisdom & practical advice.......2000-07-31

The Book of Management Wisdom is a unique resource offering insight into how legendary business managers have triumphed over the conflicts, challenges, and dilemmas that come with the territory. Never before have the deepest insights of such a large and diverse group of brilliant managers been collected into a single informative and inspiring volume.

This volume brings together the essays and speeches of more than fifty of the most successful business managers of all time and presents their ideas, tips, and management secrets in their own words. Drawing on their own personal experiences, these world-class managers offer a range of practical advice, case studies, humorous anecdotes, and management philosophy. Major business figures reveal fascinating details of their characters and personalities as they educate, enlighten, and entertain you with their often surprising views on the most compelling issues faced by managers in every corner of the business world.

Offering timeless wisdom and practical advice from the most successful business managers ever, The Book of Management Wisdom is must reading for managers at every level, from the junior executive cubicle to the presidential suite.

Peter Krass, a freelance writer and editor who lives in New Hampshire, is the editor of all five volumes in Wiley's Wisdom series. He has contributed extensively to Investor's Business Daily.

Book Description

The African American slave narrative is popularly viewed as the story of a lone male's flight from slavery to freedom, best exemplified by the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845). On the other hand, critics have also given much attention to Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), to indicate how the form could have been different if more women had written in it. But in stressing the narratives of Douglass and Jacobs as models for the genre, scholars have ignored the formal and thematic importance of marriage and family in the slave narrative, since neither author explores slave marriage in their works. This book examines the central role of marriage in The Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave (1849) and Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; or the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery (1860). Bibb's slave wife and child account for significant innovations in the form and content of his narrative, while the Crafts' mutual dependence as a married couple results in a sustained use of dramatic irony. The volume closes by offering a thoughtful consideration of the influence of Bibb and the Crafts on the later fiction of Douglass, William Wells Brown, and Martin Delany. In doing so, it invites a critical reexamination of current assumptions about slave narratives.

Customer Reviews:

Family Narratives.......2006-12-27

Heglar's "Rethinking the Slave Narrative" is a scholarly and focused academic work. He rightly expands narratives beyond the classic work of Douglass, and he rightly focuses upon narratives that distill aspects of Black family life. He reminds us that numerous slave narratives have volumes to say about slave family life. And what they have to say demolishes the myth that the Black family was unable to survive enslavement. Despite horrific attempts by White masters to destroy Black family life, they not only survived, they thrived--often and ultimately by faith.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Soul Physicians, and Spiritual Friends.

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Rethinking the Slave Narrative
Charles J. Heglar
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTQWTK

Book Description

Small states face particular problems in integrating into the world economy. These stem from diseconomies of scale and scope but are often exacerbated by isolation and high transport costs. However, their efforts to obtain special and differential treatment analogous to (but not necessarily identical to) that received by least developed countries have been resisted by both developed and developing countries. This study considers alternative ways of achieving this goal.
The special problems of small economies are receiving greater attention from the international community. However, the problem remains that of finding ways to deal with these problems. By suggesting alternatives to traditional differential treatment, Dr Davenport's study will generate much interest both among donors and the small states themselves.

Book Description

An intimate look at the films of Terry Gilliam, visionary director and animator

Terry Gilliam is a famously candid commentator on his own work, and in these specially recorded interviews, he reflects on how his Midwestern childhood and early career as an animator--including his work as the only American member of Monty Python--prepared him to undertake his extraordinary adventures in cinema.

His films are distinctively dark, fantastic, and strangely hilarious. From the medieval mock-epic Monty Python and the Holy Grail to the mythic, paranoid worlds of The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Gilliam has pursued a totally personal, uncompromising vision. This has led to legendary battles with studios and financiers, notably over The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Brazil, which is now widely considered a classic.

The book includes Gilliam's storyboards for the films--a unique glimpse at his creative process--along with his original cartoons and black-and-white photographs throughout.

Customer Reviews:

The best book on Gilliam.......2003-10-18

If you like Terry Gilliam's movies, you need this book. He covers his childhood in surprising detail, talks about the Monty Python years, and then gets into each movie. The book drags near the end, but that's primarily due to the exhaustion you feel reading about this stuff --- like his movies, you can get overwhelmed by the details. This is the best on Gilliam I've read, and one of the best books in the 'Director on Director' series.

Great! (For Gilliam fans, that is...).......2001-04-11

If you happen to be a Terry Gilliam fan, you have to read this. If you don't happen to be a Gilliam fan, but are an aspiring filmmaker, this is an invaluable source of insight. Hell, there are many pros who should read this!

Reading these interviews puts you inside the creative mind of a filmmaking genius (yes, I dare say that). There's a reason for everything that's on the screen, and one understands that Gilliam's knack for weirdness is a little more than that... there's more to his filmmaking virtuosism (wild camera angles and moves) than there is when they make it in your average Nike comercial. If you wanna know what I mean, well, read the book.

Also, I don't recommend this much to Python fans. Certainly, a good part of it talks about the Python days, but it doesn't talk about their creative process much - it's more about the making of the films and Gilliam's animations.

Fascinating, flawed, and funny.......2000-02-16

As someone said on the back cover (neatly stealing my idea), Gilliam on Gilliam is like something Phillip Dick might have written. It is paranoid, neurotic, nutty, and fascinating look at filmmaker Terry Gilliam.

It is, truly, Gilliam on Gilliam, with the book in total an interview with the filmmaker. Gilliam talks about the battle for Brazil, his frustrations in the early Python films (was was stigmatized as the arty image guy), and his intricate intentions in later films.

Most interesting to me, other than how it reminded me of how much of his films, sadly, I had forgotten, was how much visual work he puts into his films. That is relatively clear from screen, but even more apparent after you read through this book.

Equally interesting to the biz geek in me was reading Terry's pitched battle for budget credibility. After having budget troubles on two films (Brazil and Baron Munchausen), Gilliam had a financial scarlet letter to sport and it has been tough for him to convince the studios that he is not a risky budgetary bet. Hard to believe that such a prolific and successful filmmaker could still be auditioning, but there it is.

Anyway, an interesting and informative book. Not for those who are mildly interested, but a treat for Gilliam geeks who want the inside skinny on everything from De Niro's bizarre behavior in Brazil, to the casting of Jon Pryce, to underlying mythic chain operating in The Fisher King.

Excellent overview and insight into Terry's films and mind.......1999-06-22

If I had to utter one complaint about this piece, it would be that it is terribly, if understandably, one-sided. The book is terrific in showcasing Gilliam's opinions and feelings on his career and films, but that's the only opinion we receive. After hearing Burgess denounce his masterpiece, "A Clockwork Orange," I've been under the impression that an artist's opinion on his own work, while priceless, is nothing more than that; an opinion. This must be especially true in the medium of film, which more than any other medium is a collaborative effort. A book including interviews with producers, actors, technicians, designers as well as the director would make for a thorough and multi-layered overview on any film. Having said that, this particular book still succeeded in offering a peak, no matter how slight, into the workings of what I humbly consider to be an unspoken genius of our times.

Gilliam is just Gilliam.......1999-05-15

One of the most interesting director that the world of cinema give to us. This book it's an insight view, a dive in the mind of the visual art of Terry Gilliam. If you are a fan of his work this book it's kind of a Bible and if you are not a fan, this book will open your mind to one of the more magical directors in the history of this art.

Terry Gilliam: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series)

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Terry Gilliam: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series)
David Sterritt , and Terry Gilliam
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1578066247

Book Description

This collection of interviews with the renowned filmmaker, animator, artist, and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe covers the phases of his career from his early work as a cartoonist and animator through his most recent and most difficult projects.

Among many subjects, Gilliam discusses his formative years as an artist and humor-magazine cartoonist, his move from the United States to England, his entry into British television, and his success as resident animator for the Monty Python's Flying Circus television show.

As co-director of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and as director of Jabberwocky (1977) Gilliam made his advent as a maker of feature films, followed by such popular movies as Time Bandits (1981) and The Fisher King (1991). A mixture of critical acclaim and film-studio animosity greeted his epic Brazil (1985). Gilliam discusses all these, as well as the damage The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) did to his career and the disasters that plagued his attempt to film a time-travel comedy called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote after the commercial disappointment of his unexpectedly acerbic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).

In his conversations with a diverse array of interviewers Gilliam talks about an eclectic succession of topics, including his idiosyncratic tastes in painting and architecture, his fascination with the art and history of medieval Europe, his outspoken hostility for the commercial film industry, his views on comedy, fantasy, and film, and his philosophical perspectives on contemporary society.

Book Description

"A love story, full of a passion for literature and marked by intellectual vigor."—Bernadette Murphy, Los Angeles Times

"All that kid wants to do is stick his nose in a book," Michael Dirda's steelworker father used to complain, worried about his son's passion for reading. In An Open Book, one of the most delightful memoirs to emerge in years, the acclaimed literary journalist Michael Dirda re-creates his boyhood in rust-belt Ohio, first in the working-class town of Lorain, then at Oberlin College. In addition to his colorful family and friends, An Open Book also features the great writers and fictional characters who fueled Dirda's imagination: from Green Lantern to Sherlock Holmes, from Candy to Proust. The result is an affectionate homage to small-town America—summer jobs, school fights, sweepstakes contests, and first dates—as well as a paean to what could arguably be called the last great age of reading.

Customer Reviews:

Charming, Erudite Memoir.......2006-11-05

Our book group was fortunate enough to have Michael Dirda attend our discussion of this memoir. He is delightful, witty and steeped in the pleasures of reading, just as his book is. It's the story of an insecure, highly intelligent boy from a family of limited means who engages the world through literature. He is guided by several inspiring teachers, but mostly is self-taught as to what makes good reading and the lessons in life to be gleaned from books. While his keen intelligence sets him apart from his family in many respects, he also lives an ordinary and in some respects idyllic boyhood in Ohio.

As Michael Dirda said of one of the books he recently reviewed for the Washington Post, "you really should read this book."

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