You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing [Hardcover]

Peter S. Cohan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 26, 2008

The first book to explore the unique leadership style of Boeing’s acclaimed CEO

Jim McNerney was one of Jack Welch’s top protégés at General Electric and a finalist to replace the retiring Welch as CEO. McNerney lost that competition in 2001, but since then he has emerged as one of the most effective leaders of his generation.

You Can’t Order Change tells the amazing story of McNerney’s turnaround at the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer, which had faced a series of tough problems. Boeing is extremely hard to run, with more than $66 billion in annual revenue and 161,000 employees. A new product like the 787 Dreamliner costs billions to develop over many years, with global production hurdles and little margin for error.

Peter Cohan interviewed people who worked with McNerney throughout his career to explain why his consensus-driven style sets him apart. The title comes from a McNerney quote about the importance of winning hearts and minds with a clear vision of future success.

McNerney combines Midwestern integrity and humility with the brilliance and drive of a Harvard Business School and McKinsey alum. This book reveals his approach to accountability, growth, cost cutting, leadership development, customer focus, and other universal challenges.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cohan, a management consultant and venture capitalist, examines Jim McNerney's unique approach to leadership. One of three finalists in the running to replace General Electric's Jack Welch, McNerney took the helm at Boeing after a stint at 3M. Pressure to boost revenues and cut costs led him to develop a leadership style designed to win the hearts and minds of employees. His mantra—you can't order change—implies that change must come from employees if it is to succeed. Cohan provides a road map to McNerney's success that identifies 11 specific leadership challenges and the management imperatives to overcome them. The prescriptions are universally applicable and include Help Your People Get 15 Percent Better, Build Strategy on Customer Focus, Invest in Your Strengths and Cut Your Company's Environmental Footprint, among others. Easy to navigate and concise, this book will help executives tackle persistent and difficult leadership problems while motivating employees and producing results. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Peter S. Cohan is a management consultant and venture capitalist. He earned an MBA from Wharton and teaches strategy at Babson College. He also edits The Cohan Letter, a successful investment newsletter.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (December 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591842395
• ISBN-13: 978-1591842392
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,295,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter S. Cohan is a management consultant, venture capitalist, teacher, author and blogger. Prior to starting his management consulting and venture capital firm in 1994, he worked for Monitor Company, a strategy consulting firm co-founded by HBS Professor, Michael Porter and as an internal consultant in the banking and insurance industries. His firm has completed over 150 consulting projects for companies and govenments. He has invested in six private companies, three of which were sold for a total of $2 billion. He teaches business strategy to undergraduate and MBA students at Babson College; has authored 11 books; and writes the "Startup Economy" column for Forbes and the "Hungry Start-up" column for Inc. He earned an MBA from Wharton, did graduate work in Computer Science at MIT, and holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Swarthmore College.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Warmed Over Secondary Sources January 29, 2009

By Loyd E. Eskildson HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

Prior to McNerney's 7/1/05 takeover, Boeing was ethically challenged and facing an obvious need for greater fuel efficiency of its products. When McNerney took over, Boeing stock was at $64.68; it now is at $40.86. The company is two years behind on promised deliveries for its new 787, as well as other new plane programs. A recent two-month strike, and major supplier problems (a record 70% of the 787 was outsourced) largely account for problems. Employee unions are also upset over Boeing's use of contract employees.

Cohan derives his material from second-hand sources that know or have studied McNerney. That is probably a major the reason the book lacks any great insights.

A major future problem for Boeing is that other nations, especially Japan, have long pursued aviation knowledge to permit their future competition with Boeing. Some believe that the 787's outsourcing (achieve lower costs, foreign airline participation, and faster development) will finally allow this. Cohan does not address this issue.

Cohan's emphasizing McNerney's focus on cost reduction, reducing time-to-market, improved ethics, increased fuel economy is not helpful to anyone knowledgeable about the industry and Boeing's recent problems. Neither is Cohan's 40,000 ft. overview of how Boeing is improving. Readers looking for such details would do much better reading material about the Toyota Production System (which Boeing is trying to follow) - especially works by the original TPS developers. Even following Boeing through several years of Business Week, Fortune, etc. articles is better than "You Can't Order Change."

Bottom Line: My beef is not with Mr. McNerney - I'm sure he is a fine manager, though he doesn't walk on water as Cohan sometimes alludes. The problem is that Cohan just didn't put much effort (or value) into this book.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing July 10, 2009

By Kerry S.

Format:Hardcover

Very disappointing read. The author failed right off the bat to endear readers to McNerney. It is hard to root for someone with a Yale and a Harvard pedigree, born to a health care executive. What made McNerney persevere? Did doors open easily for him? We don't know because the author does not cite anywhere that he directly interviewed McNerney. Most of the advice is general and can be applied to any situation. For example "McNerney carefully assesses his own company's strengths and weaknesses". Ok. This is Business 101. And if you haven't taken Business 101, it's common sense. This book fails to provide any practical advice and ironically is very loosely linked to any theories or concepts of change, which is why I checked this book out. If you must, read it at the beach then toss.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Utterly disappointing February 6, 2010

By P. Assel

Format:Hardcover

To earn its place as only the second ever book I could not stand finishing this book is very special - for the wrong reasons. It is written in a style that just rubs off badly in non-american culture and has no useful insights or information. My view is its a cursory pat on the back for a big ego (I suspect McNerney is not personally the way the book comes out) which is clearly not what it set out to be. My second look actually reading the first chapters was it had no useable detail or learnings of any kind. It duly earnt a place in the bin at Bangkok airport after making me suffer nine hours without anything of entertainment or worth. Give it a miss.