Customer Reviews

Guts: 8 Laws of Business from One of the Most Innovative Business Leaders of Our Time

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This book is a refreshing collection of straightforward thoughts and observations about business and leadership from one of the most seasoned, creative, colorful, and highly successful executives of our time-Robert A. Lutz, Chairman of General Motors North America. This revised and updated book contains the blunt, honest wisdom of an authentic maverick leader in the form of his laws of business that have stood the test of time over his thirty years in the car industry, and his rise to the top of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler.

Organized into three parts, the book opens with the story of Chrysler's second turnaround in the early 1990s. Lutz was part of the executive team that conceived and brought to life one of the most famous and successful muscle cars of all-time: the Viper. Part Two is an in-depth review and validation of Lutz's eight immutable laws of business. The final part is Lutz's corollaries to his laws, or, as he calls them, "The Rest of the Story!"

A former Marine with an ongoing, life-long love affair with the Marine Corps and its leadership practices, Lutz presented many business and leadership concepts and personal anecdotes that reflected and blended his business and Marine Corps backgrounds. From his beliefs about the need for attention to detail and critical performance evaluations, to his emphasis on holistic, empowered, cross-functional teams and the value of a culture that nurtures middle-management dissent of conventional wisdom in open forums, Lutz's insights and experiences were both entertaining and informative.

If the following lists of Lutz's business laws and corollaries even sound remotely appealing to you, read this book - you will not be disappointed.

Lutz's Immutable Laws of Business:
LAW #1: The Customer Isn't Always Right
LAW #2: The Primary Purpose of Business Is Not to Make Money
LAW #3: When Everybody Else Is Doing It, Don't!
LAW #4: Too Much Quality Can Ruin You
LAW #5: Financial Controls Are Bad!
LAW #6: Disruptive People Are an Asset
LAW #7: Teamwork Isn't Always Good
LAW #8: When You Inherit a Really Big Rat's Nest, Don't Try to Lure Them Out With Food. Use a Flamethrower

Lutz's Corollaries
*It's Okay to Be Anal Sometimes
*A Little Fear, in Reality, Ain't All That Bad
*Leadership Is All About Common Sense, Which, Unfortunately, Is Not All That Common
*Some Squeaky Wheels Don't Get the Grease, or Pros and Cons of Being a Change Agent

This book presents the 8-plus rules on how to run a successful business (and life) from a former GM Vice Chairman of Product Development. Robert Lutz presents a highly autobiographical, hypercritical, look at his career and how these laws he developed for himself can apply to anyone.

While the information may be a little dated, (the book was originally published in 1998, republished in 2003) the principles are universal and apply well to anyone looking for a little coaching in business. It is a lot easier to get into the book if you are a fan of cars, and to a lesser extent, military history. Lutz peppers a lot of his life experiences to get the point across, admitting freely that he wasn't always (and sometimes still isn't) the best example for focus, discipline, or innovative thinking. His own experiences with failing in school, joining the US Marine Corps, and dealing with car companies in Europe and the US helped to shape his 8 rules and 4 corollaries.

The most interesting part is a very candid and detailed breakdown of the creative process that gave birth to the Dodge Viper, and the admission that it wasn't exactly a car that was begging to be made, but by making it, it changed the culture of a car company and like any fine work of art, found its proper audience.

Guts by Bob Lutz is a great insiders view of how Chrysler developed their innovative Platform Teams and the thinking that went into that process. The 8 Laws are funny with real world examples, and enlightening

Definitely a "must read" for people who want to learn more about "out of the box" thinking

Fortunately Bob Lutz has improved as a writer since 1998. Unfortunately he wrote this book in 1998.

If you enjoyed Car Guys vs. Bean Counters and plan to buy this book to get a more complete picture of Lutz's ideas - don't do it. It is the same story, not as well told, with a focus on Chrysler instead of General Motors.

The parallels are everywhere. When he was with Chrysler he saw the Viper as the car that should represent the company in consumers' minds, not the Neon. At GM he saw the Corvette in that role, not the Malibu. After preaching, in both books, the critical importance of having good products to sell, he blames Chrysler's sales decline after it was purchased by Daimler on bad publicity. He blames the more recent GM sales decline that led to their eventual bankruptcy on the federal government. This could be the basis for Law 9. - Don't accept responsibility for your failures; find someone else to blame.

Only one quarter of the book is spent on the 8 Laws of Business in the title. They are all stated in sensational terms that Lutz spends the forward and half of that section of the book explaining. The biggest disappointment in this section is his discussion of rule 4. Too Much Quality Can Ruin You. The Neon as a perfect example of this concept - give each market segment only the level of quality that those buyers will pay for. Instead Lutz uses this chapter to explain that his definition of quality is not the absence of defects but the ability of a car to delight its buyers.

The last half of the book is the usual list of things in society that cranky old business executives love to whine about - environmentalists, trial lawyers, the media, public education, business buzzwords, casual business dress, misspelled words, and hippies at Berkley. Lutz adds the difficulty of getting a good martini at expensive restaurants in Europe to the list. His solution to society's ills is Marine Corps officer training for everyone.

He was in the middle of a lot of the Auto industry in it's most trying times. His viewpoint seems well founded and should be suggested reading of serious stsudents of business practices both good and bad.

Mr. Lutz names names and give examples of his points.

Most refreshing was his run down of the points of personal behavior needed in business.

I was a participant in the Auto industry a bit earlier and thru the 1980's and found the book very clear on many of the things I observed.

Excelent point of view, ideas well placed, open minded, shows the ability to handle complex business with not being guided by the book of the commons. That's how leaders succeed.