Top Dog: A Different Kind of Book About Becoming an Excellent Leader [Paperback]

J. David Pincus (Author), J. Nicholas De Bonis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1996

In fascinating first-hand interviews with top CEOs, after almost a decade of research, and through a riveting business-fiction account of Arlen Royster, a CEO faced with a career-threatening crisis, Top Dog chronicles the role of the corporate CEO as leader, facilitator, and communicator.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Done in a format that is different from most management books, this work is about the changing role of the chief executive officer, especially in the area of communications. Each chapter deals with a specific aspect of the issue, for example, the link between communication and leadership. The beginning of each chapter is a well-documented discussion of the issues; the second part is a fictional story, running through the entire work, of Arlen Burch Royster, CEO of Royal Accommodations, a hotel chain. The story helps the reader experience in real terms the issues being discussed. Pincus (communications, California State-Fullerton) and DeBonis, a marketing consultant, present an excellent, readable work. Highly recommended for all management collections.
Michael D. Kathman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Collegeville, Minn.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

With CEOs now being kicked out of their corner offices at an unprecedented rate, it's time, say Pincus and DeBonis, to rethink the role and responsibilities of the corporate leader, not the least of which is the way top dogs communicate to all their key stakeholders--most of all, employees. On the basis of 10 years of research, the authors link communications and leadership in a definitive way, showing through data and case histories how consistency, compassion, organization, and selectivity (their CCOS model) form the linchpins of true communications. As another illustration, they spin a fictional tale of Arlen Royster, CEO of a national hotel chain, who's faced with both cooked books and an internal mutiny. Endnotes and fairly impressive CEO interviews underscore their major theme: that U.S. business leaders must learn the hows, whens, wheres, and whys of communicating to succeed both now and in the next century. A book that not only needs to be written but also to be read widely. Barbara Jacobs --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070501882
• ISBN-13: 978-0070501881
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,322,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, June 1, 2001

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Dog: A Different Kind of Book About Becoming an Excellent Leader (Paperback)

J. David Pincus and J. Nicholas DeBonis have written a most inventive book. A fictional story about a CEO in crisis is told between chapters of this non-fiction assessment of CEOs and advice regarding how they can meet the needs of our changing corporate times. Based on ten years of research and interviews with CEOs in the Fortune 500, this book is very detailed, but written in an engaging conversational style. With a focus on communication as the key to effective leadership, the book humanizes its strategies so they come to life on each page. We... recommend this book not only for top corporate management and "top dogs," but also for anyone working in the corporate world.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Detail AND Understandable., January 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Top Dog: A Different Kind of Book About Becoming an Excellent Leader (Paperback)

I found myself looking forward to the switches between fiction and non-fiction equally. Top Dog entices the reader on both levels. I definitely got two books for the price of one. In terms of the non-fiction -- I'm not in management, I'm in managee, and I found this book to be an excellent insight to what upper management has to deal with on a daily basis. The fictional portion was as good as any of the novels that I've read from the New York Times Bestseller lists. It left me wanting more...

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, entertaining, educational, different, November 6, 1998

By 

Richard Bevan (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Top Dog: A Different Kind of Book About Becoming an Excellent Leader (Paperback)

Top Dog: an instructive and entertaining blend of management text, fiction, case experience and leadership commentary. Pincus and DeBonis weave a well researched and reported account (fictional, or at least fictionalized) of a "cooking the books" crisis at a major hotel chain into discussion and presentation of the leadership and communication issues raised in the story. All this is supported by interviews with CEOs and reviews of current research and practice, and illustrated by many anecdotes and other cases. The alternating format is at first unsettling and then highly effective. It offers a much more appealing and enjoyable learning process than conventional management texts.