Customer Reviews

Extreme Management: What They Teach at Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was hoping for insight into the training that goes on in Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program (AMP). It appears the author did not himself attend, and he presents mostly a collection of anecdotes from various past attendees. Homage is paid to the usual luminaries -- Jack Welch, Sam Walton et al. The book is not cutting edge or "extreme". Capitalizing on the Harvard name was a smart marketing move, but the consumer is left with mostly a light-weight read. Rather than a peephole into the exclusive training of elite management, I felt the book was more about the authors own ideals of management as supported by quotes from AMP graduates. The best that can be said of the book is that it encourages managers to become perpetual students, which is laudable.

I was very excited when I purchased this book. I fully expected to at least learn some of the theory and thought behind the much-acclaimed Harvard B School's Advanced Management Program. The book failed to deliver. Contrary to what the cover implies, this book is NOT authorized by Harvard. The author did NOT even attend the program he wrote about. (The author SHOULD have taken some basic writing classes, as his writing style is positively painful. His thoughts meander, his concepts are clouded, he chooses awkward examples, and he has an uncanny gift for confusing what was clear, and complicating what was simple. While he may be bombastic and pretentious, a communicator he is not.)

Publisher's Weekly had it right when they said that "the book falls predictably short..." I also agree with the AudioFile reviewer who pointed out the "writing is combative... the ideas sound like platitudes or clichés...this and the wordiness of the writing make it hard to tolerate..."

My views might not have been so extreme had the book and its description not promised so much. Clearly, the book doesn't cover the curriculum of the Advanced Management Program. For the most part, it is a poorly organized summary of some of the author's interviews with a sampling of some the people who attended the Harvard program over the years. Extreme Management is extremely lacking to say the least. I would add that the name of the book and its cover are an embarrassingly transparent attempt to make money off the Harvard name.

This book has a great title but little else. I was not inspired and learned very little from the book. Based on this book, if I were responsible for Harvard's AMP Program I'd be distancing myself from Mark Stevens.

It's a better investment to spend your moeny on a bag of jelly beans than to purchase this book. Can I have my time back that was wasted reading this book?

Poor ratings and skewed reviews by others prompted me to write this review to provide objective information for knowledge seekers.

In my view it is a good book considering the price i paid, reading time, breadth of topics, simplicity and few good examples of how high level concepts could be translated into actions. I felt like spending few hours in the company of professors and executives, what they shared made sense to me and made me collect their words as jewels. Where else could one find synthesized knowledge from people like Michael Porter, Fruhan and other renowned scholars within 190/200 pages? I liked the simple manner in which DuPont and other fundamental financial management concepts are explained. I wouldn't mind recommending it to anyone for casual reading during a 3hr flight. Indeed it is not a text book, should not be taken seriously and may not be permanent part of your collection. The book is NOT for technical person who likes to live in details, nor for one who tends to seek ready-made solutions, nor for one who is interested in structured learning or pursuing graduate degree in management. One finds elements of inspiration and motivation to act, hallmark of good books. The stuff about Harvard or text on cover is more of marketing gimmick but nowhere author claims school endorses his book. There is a clear statement to that fact so don't know what caused the confusion written in other reviews. What matters is that the interviews, wisdom and thought process shared by people is original and real.... writer did not make up those 7 OFP points or market competition strategies. Don't expect a book could make you good manager or reveal secrets of success - there is no formula book.

Bottomline, professors who are Harvard's brain and their executive students from Fortune500/Global2000, .....talk to you in this book. It does not matter whether the book is endorsed by the school or if the writer himself attended the AMP program.....knowledge shouldn't have strings attached to it.

I picked up a used set of Extreme Management (book and audio) at a flea market. I should have saved my dollar. The book was laborious reading, bordering on pontification, so I tried the tape. What a mistake. If the amateurish and combative writing style was bad in print, the voice used on the tape made things exponentially worse - a classic case of really bad writing getting worse.

Here's the quick scoop:
1. I checked with Harvard and they did NOT authorize this book.
2. The author did NOT attend the classes he wrote about.
3. The writing style is very reminiscent of pre-canned smoke-and-mirrors business-speak...much verbosity, little content.
4. The author sounds positively angry about something.
5. I was angry, too, only because I wasted a dollar on this junk.

I agree with the jist of almost every reviewer on this page, especially Publisher's Weekly and AudioFile. I should have read the reviews on this site first. Oh well, it was only a buck.

Even at the one cent price paid for a second hand copy, this title is not a good value for money. The book's tag line says "what they teach at Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program," however, the content covers only a small number of the program's topics with chapters with topics that are not cohesively presented. Aside from presenting an unofficial potted history of the AMP, there is little--if any--original material presented.

The book offers a small collection bullet lists of lessons learned by several program participants from 1996. Material also includes simple and inconclusive Q&A interviews with program staff and students from the same timeframe. Even when originally published in 2001, the material was very dated. A book with this tag line should produce an executive summary of the now eight week, $60,000 program, and provide insight to future participants what to expect from their participation.

This was just an ad for AMP, and more of a collection of accolades than anything. Skip it.

The title was a little over stated. As a business student myself, all of the enclosed information was positive reenforcemnet for what I had already learned and a little more! Some of the quotes in the text were reassuring to the reader of a point well explained. although some of the points explained in the text were over explained and it became "dry" reading after awhile. The author had good usage of business terms, but lacked other examples other then that from Harvard Business school.

The text was by far an ad for the Advanced Management Program and Harvard Business school. It also touched slightly on management from a global arena, when most would know that all businesses are likely to go global. So more information is needed for a non-AMP student to learn how to manage in a global market.

Overall the book was informational, but could not be used as the only form of education for potential managers. Not everyone can afford to go to Harvard, but any business school would be better then just reading this book. Because business school can explain these points better and with more content then the book did.