The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships [Hardcover]

Jonathan M. Tisch (Author), Karl Weber (Author), Karl Weber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2004

Praise for The Power of We

"In The Power of We, Jonathan Tisch reminds us again that working together still yields the best results. Jon has spent a lifetime mobilizing people and organizations to get a job done in business and in civic service. His experience, optimism, intelligence, and common sense are reflected in this fresh look at the rewards of partnerships."
-President Bill Clinton

"The Power of We offers a clear and compelling lesson in how today's business leaders can create new synergies and gain competitive advantage by learning how to partner successfully."
-Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and CEO, American Express Company

"Jon Tisch has lived the strategy he describes in The Power of We, and now this extraordinary man and successful leader shares his strategy with us. Building partnerships at all levels-social, intellectual, and political, as well as entrepreneurial-will be one of the keys to progress in the coming decades. Jon Tisch provides a road map for those who grasp that reality."
-John Sexton, President, New York University

"Being a leader requires vision, focus, and influence. Jonathan Tisch has exhibited all three in this great body of work about what it takes to be a partner and something bigger than yourself. The Power of We is a must read."
-Pat Riley, President, the Miami HEAT

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The CEO of Loews Hotels, Tisch preaches a management philosophy of cooperation: forging partnerships with employees, customers, shareholders and communities. A skeptical reader will ask what kind of partnership leaves the author heir to a $21-billion fortune while most of his employee-partners make less than $21,000 per year; the author addresses this question head-on, leaving the executive suite and performing the entry-level jobs in Loews hotels: cleaning, cooking, serving, repairing and checking guests in. The difficulty of these jobs reinforces "how crucial it is for top management to give the front-line people the tools, resources, and freedom they need to carry out their demanding jobs." He also confronts a union-busting reputation with a set of arguments for and against organized labor. The result is inspiring as an account of the way businesses should be run, but not entirely convincing as an account of the way Loews is actually run: Tisch describes at length how uncomfortable and humiliating the front-line employee uniforms are—but he doesn't consider changing them because they are cheap to launder. Accounts from other executives who practice partnership management argue strongly for the ideas; this book as a whole gives explicit examples and recipes for applying them with an entertaining mix of analysis and stories.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Tisch is chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, which also has sizable interests in the insurance, sports, and tobacco industries. This family business has been extremely successful, in large part a result of the partnerships they have forged--with employees through recognition and rewards, with customers by delivering a unique entertainment experience, and with other businesses and government through promotion of tourism. In June 2003, Tisch spent a week in the "front lines" working as a bellman, waiter, engineer, and housekeeper. His experience gave him new respect for the difficulties his staff endured; he found the polyester room-service uniforms so uncomfortable he decided to change them. Besides detailing how cooperative efforts work in the hotel business, he also profiles the partnership successes of others, such as JetBlue Airways CEO David Neeleman, former president Jimmy Carter and the Carter Foundation, and Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Entertainment. Tisch proves that companies ultimately reap great benefits by looking beyond the bottom line to the needs of people and community. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471652822
• ISBN-13: 978-0471652823
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,488,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan M. Tisch is the author of CHOCOLATES ON THE PILLOW AREN'T ENOUGH: Reinveting the Customer Experience and the Wall Street Journal besteller The Power of We: Succeeding through Partnerships. He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Loews Hotels and is also Co-Chairman of the Board and a member of the Office of the President of Loews Corporation, the hotel chain's parent company and one of the largest diversified financial holding companies in the U.S.

Loews Hotels is recognized not just for providing more than a four-diamond experience but also for a corporate culture that believes in achieving enduring success through partnerships that empower employees, satisfy customers, contribute to communities, and improve the bottom line To get a better perspective on the essential connection between upper management and entry-level employees, Tisch starred in the premier episode of Now Who's Boss?, a television series by TLC and New York Times Television, that explored what happens when a CEO is put back in frontline positions at his own company. Tisch also hosts the television series, Open Exchange: Beyond the Boardroom, where he goes one-on-one with the nation's leading CEOs. The program reveals the person behind the successful executive and shows that business is about more than just numbers, but rather guts, hard work, imagination, and people.

Recognized as a national leader of the multi-billion dollar travel and tourism industry, Tisch has served since 1995 as Chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable, a prominent coalition of chief executives representing various sectors of the travel and tourism industry, and in 2003, he was appointed to the United States Department of Commerce U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. He is also a founder of the Disover America Partnership, an effort led by some of America's foremost business leaders to unlock the power of travel to strengthen America's image around the globe.

Tisch frequently can be seen in the media and on Capitol Hill promoting the industry's important role in our economic security, national security and public diplomoacy efforts. He has received numerous honors and accolades for his leadership, including 'Hotel Person of the Year' by Travel Agent magazine, one of the 'Business Travel Industry's Most Influential Executives' by Business Travel News, and one of the '25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry' by Meeting News magazine.

Tisch is also committed to a vibrant tourism industry in New York City, where he serves as Chairman of NYC & Company, the city's official tourism agency and local convention and visitors bureau. Concurrent with his national efforts to help stimulate travel and tourism in the aftermath of September 11th, Tisch served as Chairman of 'New York Rising,' a task force set up to help rebuild the city by reviving tourism. Last year the City welcomed a record 44 million visitors. In recognition for his leadership and civic involvement, Crain's New York Business named Tisch one of the 'Top Ten Most Influential Business Leaders.'

Believing you can do well and do good at the same time, Tisch is a champion of corporate responsibility and his community and philanthropic activities are extensive. He served as the Vice-Chairman of The Welfare to Work Partnership, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Tufts University, where he is also the naming benefactor of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. He is also on the Boards of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and the Tribeca Film Institute. In addition, he is on the Board and is the Treasurer of the New York Football Giants.

After graduating from Tufts University, Tisch worked as a Cinematographer/Producer at WBZ-TV in Boston, for which he received two local Emmy nominations.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timely and Timeless Notion, September 9, 2004

By 

Nancy E. Mendelson (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships (Hardcover)

Much like the hotels he operates, Mr. Tisch's book does not disappoint. He was very generous with sharing information and offering an "insider's" perspective on a variety of businesses, situations, as well as his illustrious family. I was truly surprised that a "business" book could be so engaging, personal and unintimidating...and I got a lot out of it.
It is clear that Mr. Tisch is the real deal and that he not only embraces the power of partnerships...he embodies it.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Power of We, a timely book for the age of alliances., September 7, 2004

By 

S. Adler "Executive Director, 92nd Street Y" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships (Hardcover)

The 21st Century will be the age of alliances as few organizations( or countries for that matter) will have the resouces to reach their goals by themselves. Jonathan Tisch's, "The Power of We," is quite timely as it helps the reader with both minset and practical tips on partnerships. From his belief that, deep down most people are idealistic, to the positive dynamic tension in the relationship between the Loews Hotels Home Office staff and the General Managers who have substantial authority and responsibility (noting also that the hotel president spends a substantial amount of time monitoring this structure) Jonathan Tisch offers practical and philosophical advise that I have found relevent in the not-for- profit world. Mr Tisch covers both the short term expedient partnerships such as changing their dinning room into a cabaret and the long term partnership issues where he notes the critical importance of aligning the plans and actions of managers with the objectives of ownership without unnecessarily stifling the manager's individual creativity ( the identical statement can be made in the not- for- profit world, just substitute the Board of Directors for the Owners). I have enjoyed this book and would reccomend it to those of us in the not-for-profit world as well.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book, October 15, 2009

By 

Carlos R. Nagel (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships (Paperback)

This is a book that addresses the vital function of "Being a good neighbor is good business"