The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws That Will Make People Want to Perform Better for You [Hardcover]

Michael Feiner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 2004

Management expert Michael Feiner's candid leadership guide cuts through rhetoric and theory and gives managers and executives a 'hands-on' approach to dealing with problems in business. As the former chief people officer at PepsiCo, and now a management professor at the Columbia University School of Business, Feiner shares his solutions from his years of handling unexpected crises,meditating between warring corporate factions, and taking care of all the 'people problems' that pop up on a routine basis in companies all over the world. Feiner's approach is based on common sense and practicality, and his book is full of examples that managers everywhere will identify with and relate to. Along the way, Feiner doles out his 'laws' of how those in supervisory roles can resolve these vexing situations. Instructive and entertaining, THEFEINERPOINTSOFLEADERSHIP will be mandatory reading for anyone in a managerial position.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael C. Feiner is President of Michael C. Feiner Consulting, Inc., a firm he founded in 1996 after retiring from Pepsi-Cola Company. The firm advises CEO's on how to muscle-build their organizations and upgrade the quality of their company's leadership. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Warner Business Books (June 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446532762
• ISBN-13: 978-0446532761
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book on leadership that's worth reading and keeping, June 9, 2004

By 

Srikumar S. Rao (Commack, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws That Will Make People Want to Perform Better for You (Hardcover)

I know this guy. He is one of the most popular professors at Columbia Business School and his course is one of the highest rated. Students struggle to take his course. I discovered this first-hand when I found my own teaching assistant despondent because she didn't get in and there was no other course being offered that she could get excited about.

The same skills that make one a great professor also can make one a great leader. Feiner cares about his students. If one is absent without explanation, he calls to find out why and if she is OK. He tells them exactly what he will do for them and what he expects in return. And then he does more, much more.

Feiner's basic thesis is that Leadership is all about managing relationships. A great leader has a web of relationships - with subordinates, peers, superiors, clients, external agents like journalists and analysts, and a host of others. How successfully you manage this web is what determines how effective you are.

Feiner gives you principles that you can adapt to your situation and lots of illustrative examples. For example, in the Law of Who is that Masked Man or Woman, he talks about the importance of finding out about a great deal about your boss. He shows you how to. And he also emphasizes that using this as data to prove your boss is incompetent is counterproductive for you. Your focus should be on how to increase your own effectiveness.

I like the fact that Feiner emphasizes personal values. Yes, you should care for those who work for you. But if you do so only because you need their help to get ahead, then you cheapen the relationship and diminish business and society. It is so much better if you care for them because that is an outward expression of your values. These are subtle distinctions and Feiner does not shy away from making them.

Read this book once, quickly. It should not take more than a couple of hours. Mark out the sections that appeal to you.

Then go back to it every two months or so and read it again or atleast the highlighted sections. Figure out how you can adapt and USE the points he makes. And then you will get the full value of this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Summary: Hands-On Leadership Tool-kit, July 19, 2004

By 

Paul Misir (New York City, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws That Will Make People Want to Perform Better for You (Hardcover)

While numerous books on leadership are released every year, most are too vague to be effective in helping the reader implement the recommended practices (i.e., usually broad, too academic, or merely describe behaviors of leaders).

"The Feiner Points" is exceptional because it describes specific actions and activities one can undertake. The author, Michael Feiner, takes a hands-on approach and attempts to answer every reader's natural question: "what can I do today?" to become a better leader. Feiner provides tangible and functional suggestions (he calls them "Laws") throughout the book that are simple and memorable, and thus easy to apply. (Note: The concepts in the book can be applied at various stages of one's career.)

Another reason the book is effective is because the author has taken the viewpoint of a lifelong career and leadership "coach." This differs from other books written by famous leaders, whose advice is often only applicable to someone with similar personality traits or facing a similar situation. Feiner, having seen and worked with a variety of leadership styles, recognizes this and effectively conveys ideas that work for many different personality types.

Overall, the book is simple, straight-to-the-point, and easy to apply... recommended!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on the market, October 13, 2004

By 

Marie - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws That Will Make People Want to Perform Better for You (Hardcover)

I had this guy as a professor at Columbia (no, he didn't put me up to this). His was by far the best management class I ever took. I'm so glad to see that he's compiled all that great insight into a book.
It's good, solid, practical advice that you can use almost as a handbook. No lame parables, no hyperpunctuation, no facile consultant's tips.