Behind every great business leader is the story of how they got there, the breakthrough decisions they made, the lessons they learned, and the mentors who guided them. From the editors of "Fortune" magazine comes "Secrets of Greatness", which captures the advice, wisdom and guiding principles that today's top CEO's and entrepreneurs live by in their careers and personal lives. Hear from the biggest names in business such as Jack Welch, Andy Grove, Peter Drucker, Meg Whitman, Michael Dell and others, as they recount: the best advice they ever got; how they make great decisions; how they work effectively; how they run their teams; and, how they started up their companies. "Secrets of Greatness" is filled with fascinating anecdotes, personal stories, and valuable lessons from many of the most recognized and respected business leaders. Based on their experiences and the key gems of wisdom they learned from friends, family, mentors and colleagues, "The Secrets of Greatness" is a valuable resource for people looking for success in business and in life.
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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Personal, Practical, Candid, and Eloquent,
By
This review is from: Fortune: Secrets of Greatness (Hardcover)
As Eric Pooley, managing editor of Fortune, explains in the Foreword, he once had an off-the-record, one-on-one dinner with the CEO of a major investment bank who "really came alive when I asked him the most basic question of the evening: "How do you work?'"As Pooley met with other business leaders in the months that followed, he asked the same question and their responses resulted in a special issue called "How I Work." Now, in a single volume, the editors of Fortune magazine have assembled a wealth of information from a series of individual issues which comprise the "Secrets of Greatness" series. The contributors offer what Pooley correctly characterizes as "great take-away... and I think you'll experience the same happy shock of recognition I did when sitting across from that master investment banker in the spring of 2005. Hey, his challenges are not so different from mine. I'm going to test drive some of his solutions." (A personal aside: I use an optic yellow Sharpie ACCENT pen to highlight key passages in each book which I read and then review. I used up two as I worked my way through this one.) The material is carefully organized within six sections: I. Great Beginnings (e.g. "Visionary Chuck Williams on Williams-Sonoma") II. Great Ways to Work (e.g. "How I work" by Bill Gates") III. Great Decisions (e.g. "Jim Collins on Tough Calls") IV. Great Role Models (e.g. "The Education of Andy Grove" by Richard S. Tedlow) Note: Grove wrote the Introduction and is as candid and insightful in it as he is in Swimming Across and Only the Paranoid Survive. Here is a brief excerpt from the Introduction: "I learned from many small knocks on the head that there is a very simple tool to move faster, to increase productivity. It has to do with the things you decide not to do. The most important two letters that increase your productivity as well as the productivity of the people you work with are N-O, said clearly, unequivocally and early - not after someone has decided to count on you." V. Great Teams (e.g. "Why Dream Teams Fail" by Geoffrey Colvin) V. Great Advice (e.g. "The Best Advice I Ever Got" by 28 business luminaries who include Warren Buffett, Jack Welch, Dick Parsons, Jim Collins, Peter Drucker, Ted Turner, Mickey Drexler, Herb Kelleher, and Clay Christensen) I also appreciate the introductions to the six sections by Joshua Hyatt, Jerry Useem (II, III, and V), and Geoffrey Colvin. In Part III, the Fortune editors examine "Decisions That Made History" which range from Western Union's rejection of Alexander Graham Bell's "new invention" (1876) to Jerry Levin's determination to merge Time Warner with AOL (2000). Thanks to brilliant editing, the material in Secrets of Success offers both an extraordinary variety of points of view while remaining cohesive. Each contributor establishes and then sustains a direct rapport with the reader. The tone is informal, indeed conversational. Also remarkably candid. For example, Michael Dell confides: "We screwed up all kinds of things, but there was so much inherent value in what we were doing that it masked all the mistakes that we made." Grove confides, "I almost wrecked the company [Intel] because a new product seduced me." In this context, one of Peter Drucker's opinions seems especially relevant: "To demand only well-rounded people, people who have only strengths and no weaknesses, is to invite mediocrity - of which there is always an abundant supply." Nearly all of those interviewed stated or at least implied that humility is among the "secrets" of achieving greatness in one form or another. There is also a near-unamimous concensus about the importance of teamwork, cooperation, and collaboration. Their emphasis on the importance of humility reminds me of this passage from Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, one which seems especially relevant: Learn from the people Plan with the people Begin with what they have Build on what they know Of the best leaders When the task is accomplished The people will remark We have done it ourselves. After thinking about how to conclude my brief commentary on this entertaining as well as enlightening wealth of advice, I eventually decided to let Andy Grove provide it. "It's been a long walk through the forest of being a manager - 40 years long in fact. The trees continue to emerge from the dark. The good news is, my forehead is stronger than it was 40 years ago. Perhaps reading the stories that follow and applying them to your situation may save you a bump or two on the head."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Secrets of Greatness,
By
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This review is from: Fortune: Secrets of Greatness (Hardcover)
What do the great leaders of our time know that you don't? Remarkable leadership - Is it a trait you're born with? Or, can it be learned? Andy Groves from Intel takes the view that we learn it. He wrote that when Apple run their memorable advertising campaign exhorting customers to "Think Differently", they are talking about avoiding the trap of hidden assumptions. Eric Pooley, the MD of Fortune, said that one of the keys to leadership is "clarity". Whether you're an entrepreneur launching your first start-up, a small business owner trying to scale up, or a manager running a division on the basis of a global company, you will find a great takeaways here: hard-won; field-tested stuff that works. This book consists of 6 parts, each part in turn consists of several chapters. In what follows, I will highlight these 6 parts. They are: (1). Some of America's best known entrepreneurs live at the intersection between thought and action, where they somehow managed to think deeply without becoming paralysed; (2). Thomas Alva Edison said that he owed his success to the fact that he never had a clock in his workshop; (3). The best decision-makers were capable of seeing the present as if it were already in the past; (4). A CEO is someone who asks probing questions that force the team to think and find the right answers; (5). Becoming skilled at doing more with others may be the single most important thing you can do, regardless of your level of authority and (6). Learn to build on people's strengths, know your market, control your time and pull the weeds. Each of these principles is illustrated with copious, vivid data. Digest this book and you will develop the secrets of success.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great review on Leadership behaviour!,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Fortune: Secrets of Greatness (Hardcover)
Excellent book to refresh idea's on Leadership. Contains good statements to be used in day to day discussions on Leadership to illustrate the ways forward that have proven to be working well.
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