Executive Decision Books

If you're looking for concise, simple dialogue on what it means to be effective and how to parlay that into your work life, here it is. If you are looking for a fashionable, faddy, flashy Seth-Godin-type mantra to chant, you will be vastly disappointed and fantastically bored.

To those who are serious students of business and it's execution and are willing to do what it takes to be leaders, this is one of probably 3-5 books on the required reading list. Read through it quickly at your own peril, for amazing gems are buried mid-paragraph in the most seemingly innocuous paragraphs.

Now for the love of effectiveness, please buy, read and apply this to yourself so I don't have to do business with you sloths anymore!

Very good book on the true management skills required by any and every manager. Drucker clearly points out that not all great managers were created the same....but most share certain traits. An excellent, must read for any and all managers everywhere!

Excellent advice from a incredible coach. From time management to management contribution this book offers what you need to achieve management positions. A must.

Peter Drucker was such a prolific and important writer, thinker, researcher, teacher, and philosopher! Although he is best known a the father of modern management theory, I find that his ideas are applicable to a wide variety of positions and enterprises.

The Effective Executive, like most of his works, is written with the assumption that the reader is part of an institution and needs to learn to function within the challenges of the corporate environment. I have never had a traditional job or position in a large institution, but can totally relate to the challenges of what Drucker refers to as executives and knowledge workers.

As a professional musician and holistic music teacher ([...]), I have worked to integrate the creative, intuitive sides of human nature with the organizational, rational aspects, both for myself and my clients.

Like many artists, I was never taught the principals of management and have had to adapt and educate myself along the way. I owe a lot to Peter Drucker for helping me make sense of the nature of effectiveness and management.

Drucker's wisdom transcends culture and industry. Just the acknowledgement that effectiveness is a skill in-and-of-itself, apart from intelligence, talent, charisma, or creativity, is a powerful distinction. His encouragement that it can be (and must be) learned is a relief!

His 5 basic practices for effective executives are invaluable insights. Here they are, paraphrased:

1) Be aware of and manage your time
2) Focus on results, not efforts
3) Play to and develop strengths, not weaknesses (yours and others')
4) Concentrate and align your actions and your purpose
5) Learn to make good decisions

The examples in the book are a bit old-school, but the principles still hold true. Thank you, Peter, for putting into words what so many of us were never taught at home or in school!

Peter Drucker wrote this book back in 1966 and it is as pertinent today as it was then. It concentrates on a small number of practices to help executives manage themselves - a precursor to managing others. Drucker makes the point that, "No one is born an effective executive. No one is a natural... It must be learned...In addition, it is not exceedingly difficult." That's welcome news for all of us. We simply need to follow the practices outlined in this book.

The book is meant for a wide audience as Drucker's definition of the executive is broad - "Anyone that is responsible for a contribution that materially affects the capacity of the organization to perform and to obtain results."

The first step on the journey is to "know thy time." Too many managers have no idea where they spend there time. Drucker recommends managers start by recording their time to discover where it is being spent. Once identified, they need to stop wasting time on things that are not important and then work to consolidate freed time into chunks. Significant blocks of time of 2 hours or so are needed to complete important things.

Next executives must ask of themselves, "What can I contribute that will significantly affect the performance and results of the organization." This helps the manager look outward and to identify and prioritize those tasks that are most important to complete.

Then the managers should do the first things first and do them one at a time. "The secret of those people who do so many things and apparently so many difficult things is that they do only one thing at a time. As a result, they need much less time in the end than the rest of us."

Finally, Drucker outlines how to make effective decisions. He craftily breaks down the elements of the decision process and explains how managers can improve in this discipline.

The book is filled with examples and supporting information. Drucker writes in a refreshingly honest and straightforward style. Many refer to this book as a classic. It is worthy of the designation. So much of what is written today is borrowed from Drucker. Managers can not go wrong adding this one to their arsenal of tools.

-- Nick McCormick - Author, Lead Well and Prosper: 15 Successful Strategies for Becoming a Good Manager

It's good to hear that employing a clear, open business policy can boost the bottom line and upgrade management. With all the recent corporate scandals, a management approach based on "what you see is what you get" is refreshing - and it works. Transparent management can increase employee morale, retention and productivity. Transparent leaders are better at their jobs and make a difference in people's lives. Using case studies and self-assessment surveys, authors Barbara and Elizabeth Pagano help potential leaders evaluate and hone their honesty and their leadership styles. The case studies in this easy to read, if slightly repetitive, volume help convey the authors' key points, which center on honesty, awareness and open communications. We recommend this value-enriched book to aspiring leaders, managers and executives who may be surprised to learn that transparent leadership is one of those intangibles that can produce concrete results.

I really enjoy the stories in The Transparency Edge. It is a great reminder that we can choose to be better leaders in everything we do, everyday. Leadership concepts are hard to grasp generally. And illustrating these with personal experiences make these issues come alive for readers. The Paganos' conversational style also makes reading easy. I recommend this to those who are starting/doing 360 feedback. Such a feedback process can be rather disconcerting, as my first-time coachees have confirmed, and it is helpful to have a resource like Transparency Edge to act as a guide for reflection and new actions.

This book does a great job of breaking up credibility into a few tangible categories and listing specific examples of how to apply the right touch to each of them -- being open without overdoing it, offering praise without coming across as insincere, etc. I was impressed front to back on the way that the authors dissected each dimension, provided insightful anecdotes, and supported them with metrics.

The biggest thing I didn't like is that it uses the "motherhood and apple pie" approach to convincing you of the value of most dimensions. There's sort of an implicit assumption that everything the book says sounds good, and therefore you must do it, resulting in... profit? If they'd not only pointed out studies that showed how many people were bad at certain things but were also more consistent in showing how each of their dimensions contribute to productivity of staff, profitability of the company, or some other company-specific metric, it would've been nice. I'm not saying that I necessarily disagree with them; rather that I don't like seeing people espouse behavior changes just because they "feel right."

Additionally, it's pretty clear they run a high-level executive consulting business. At times, it seemed too CEO / senior-VP focused, with the assumption that not only do you have reports, but that your reports have tiers of reports. Finally, the number of times that they mention the specific services they provided and specific role they played made it feel less like a self-help book and more like an advertisement for them.

Still, a good book and to be recommended, but I'd take it with a grain of salt at times. It triggered a little bit of cynicism more than once, though I'm sure that they'd be willing to work with me on that :-)

This book has a magical combination of real life stories interwoven with principles and facts based on research. Not an easy mix to achieve. Hats off to these authors!
Evonne Weinhaus,
Co-author of Stop Struggling With Your Teen
& Stop Struggling With Your Child

As someone who has inhabited a pretty competitive corner of corporate America for over 20 years, I can honestly say this book was like a lifeline.

With the huge generation of baby boomers all entering the business scene at the same time, I think a lot of us have felt tremendous pressure to conform to what seemed some pretty harsh norms. Being professional and getting ahead was all about being efficient - not taking the time to explain what was going on; being strong, which means never appearing vulnerable; being tough - which means focusing solely on the more easily quantified sales and profit implications of a decision, and shutting out the human factors.

I work in the communications/consulting business and, at every company I've worked for, senior management would get up every year at the annual meeting and say something like - "What sets us apart and gives us our competitive advantage is how we care about our people," and "The most valuable asset in this company goes home every evening." And everyone would just look at each other and roll their eyes, because nobody believed them!

If they cared so much, why didn't they tell us candidly the reasons behind some of their apparently uninformed and careless decisions? Even bad news would be better than all the confusion and speculation in the ranks when no-one knew what was going on. Why did they do all this management training, yet still knowingly tolerate bosses who brutalized their subordinates? Why did they ask for our suggestions - and even ask us to put extra time in volunteering for various corporate task forces - only to break their implied promise of change by ignoring everything we came up, and proceeding with business as usual?

As I moved up into management myself, I understood better what some of the pressures are that push the people in charge into some of these behaviors, and there were times when I found it hard to reconcile my own choices. I saw it as having to make a trade-off between what I thought was the right thing to do (i.e., my responsibility to my personal values), and doing the right thing for the company (i.e, my responsibility as a professional).

What The Transparency Edge does is show beyond a doubt that standing true to your values makes good business sense. Yes, it's harder to do sometimes, and yes, sometimes the benefits are long-term rather than immediate. But leaders have a responsibility to the long-term welfare of the company, which includes maintaining their own and their company's reputation, as well as creating the motivation for people to follow their leadership. Both of those goals are impossible to achieve without personal credibility. And personal credibility is built through conscientiously respecting the nine principles in this book.

Pagano demonstrates that, without question, the reason to behave transparently is not only because it's right, but because it's smart. What a breath of fresh air - it's about time!

If you know anything about personality types from either Socionics (Rod Novichkov) or MBTI then you'll know who the Alpha Male is exactly (ESTJ or ISTJ personality types). This book shows you logical ways of dealing with people of these personality types. It's good reading.

Making a great team out of a group of driving and opinionated managers and professionals is hard; they need to trust and rely on each other when in fact it is more comfortable for them to stay apart. The Alpha Male Syndrome is a rare and valuable book that offers real solutions to these difficulties.

It is hard to not wax poetic about this book as I was so excited to literally walk into it in an airport store soon after it was published. Not one to usually look at hardback books, the title was alluring and the content took my breath away. Here were two top consultants working with some of the best and the brightest who had characterized the execs into four categories. Their process of categorization allows a much greater understanding by the executive than most of the others I have seen over the years.

Each of the four "types" (and most of us have a mix) have specific strengths and risks when it comes to leadership and effectiveness as a top executive. As an executive coach, I really like helping each "alpha" I work with to look at the "risks" of their personality traits rather than call anything a weakness. We play to our strengths and mitigate our risks. This offers a framework from which we can look at what is working, what isn't, and set very specific goals for behavioral change.

Every successful executive has some/many alpha traits. Kate Ludeman, PhD and Edie Erlandson, MD at Worth Ethic, offer an online test that is incredibly helpful as it provides very clear explanations of the specific strengths and risks indicated by the individual. The conclusions and recommendations they offer are extremely valid (from a practical point of view). Having worked with hundreds/thousands of alphas over the past 25 years, I wish I had the benefit of this screen and understanding of their conceptualization process for each client earlier. This is one of the few items I always use when working with a new client.

Breaking the traits into strengths and risks is really what it is all about. Although I have used a SWOT analysis for years in all levels of work (with individuals or with boards and strategic planning), I've always hated the "W" term, weakness. This is such a judgmental and pejorative term to most people, and sounds very permanent. The term "risk" is ever so much better to work with (and hints at the situational component). So even if SROT won't be a best seller, I now explain that what I want to look at are their personal risks, not weaknesses. Every exec is comfortable with risk. It's how we live, and really is an important part of what gives the fabric of life a certain richness and depth. A risk is something that one can assess and make decisions about. A weakness is just, well, yuck.

Very good book for those who want to understand what's going on in the management team. All managers should read this book. A must

Two management consultants have jointly written this book about alpha males who occupy some 75% senior management positions in America's business world. According to them, alpha males are indomitable, tenacious, and persevering enough to reach the apex of their career. They inspire awe and respect but could move people to fear and trembling. Despite having great career success, the downside of their traits and behaviours such as the `laws of the jungle' attitude, interpersonal impatience, and difficult controlling anger can have devastating effect to their health, marriage, and other people surrounding them.

Both writers marry hard data on some 1,500 executives and base on their abundant coaching experience with senior executives from Fortune 500 firms to figure out why such top dogs become pit bulls that snowball problems and expose their vulnerabilities. In short, alpha males are various in terms of their different traits they possess such as commander, visionary, strategist, and executor. Some are inclined to act like visionaries that often dream up exotic ideas but hate naysayers. Others have an uncanny ability to deal with crisis but tend to exercise their authority through intimidation and domination. Both writers conclude that Trump's `apprentice' mentality would do more harm than good. In today's business environment where trust, respect, and collaborative dialogue between corporate bigwigs and coworkers are vital for business survival and growth, both writers offer alpha males a list of `awareness of self and others' tools that could guide them beyond the `alpha triangle' trap and move themselves and their people to effectiveness.

This book is a comprehensive study of alpha males. It is also a landmark management study that not only fills need for alpha males but also provides an impetus for further research on this subject. Revealing the importance of tapping human potentials in teams to high performance, alpha males should learn how to involve the whole team that harness their intelligence, vitality, and drive without wreaking havoc on working relationships. They have to put aside their `zero-sum' jungle mentality as well as personal glory in pursuit of the alchemy of human connections. This book is accompanied by a website that contains an online alpha assessment to testify whether you are an alpha male or not and also your alpha strengths and risks. It helps readers undertake a self-awareness exercise in order to understand and modify their tendencies and risk areas. Chapter 8 provides alpha males with a repertoire of tools to practice emotional and physical reset such as stress relief and endorphin increments in order to achieve high-level health and wellness.

This book is highly recommended for readers who are interested in understanding more about the upside as well as downside traits of alpha males. It is also a highly recommended book for alpha males who aspire to leverage their strengths and subdue their flip-side risks for the best interest of shareholders and their people.

The main character in Dale Dauten's magnificent story, The Max Strategy, is Max Elmore, an old man with infectious enthusiasm, insatiable curiosity, and wisdom gained from a lifetime of management consulting to leaders across a spectrum of organizations. Max meets the book's fictional author during an extended delay at O'Hare Airport, and during their ensuing conversation, one of the topics Max discusses is 'becoming a flukologist':

"Burton Malkiel (A Random Walk Down Wall Street) dreamed up an imaginary coin-tossing contest. A thousand contestants in a line; heads was a winner, tails a loser. So the thousand people toss their coins and about five hundred get tails and lose. The five hundred with heads toss again. After seven tosses there are just eight coin tossers left. By this time crowds start to gather to witness the surprising ability of these expert coin tossers. The winners are overwhelmed with adulation. They are celebrated as geniuses in the art of coin tossing - their biographies are written and people urgently seek their advice. After all, there were a thousand contestants and only eight could consistently flip heads."

"Naturally, if you aren't smart and hardworking and all that, you're going to fail ten times out of ten. But if you do all the right things, guess what? You fail nine times out of ten. Think how many great novels you've read that never became best-sellers. Think how many actors you see in local or regional theaters who are as good as those on Broadway. Their problem isn't talent or work ethic; it's that they aren't expert coin tossers."

"Remember this: The coin tosser who gets the most 'heads' is the one who gets the most tosses. Given enough chances, chance is your friend."

"Yes, a fluke is a fluke. But you could use a fluke in your career, no? So maybe we should learn their secrets and become 'flukologists.'"

"If you innovate instead of imitate, and work every day to be different from yesterday, you'll improve your odds: You no longer will fail nine times out of ten. You'll fail eight times out of ten."

"Real achievement is a kind of lottery. You enter by being competent and hardworking. Most people get one shot in the lottery, playing at one-in-ten odds. I'm trying to show you how you can enter again and again, at two-in-ten odds. Here's the logic. Most people try to be like the successful people in their field. The result is that everyone does what everyone else is doing. If a great new idea comes along, sure, they adopt it. So does everyone else. You see what is happening to each of them? Each is trying to be exceptional, but ends up going about it by being just like everyone else. The upshot? They have, at best, a one-in-ten chance of producing results in the top ten percent of their profession."

"If you want to be extraordinary, the first and hardest step is to stop being ordinary."

"People try to conform to success, but to be successful is to be a non-conformist. Let's put it this way: You don't become a Picasso by taking a Picasso print and running it through a Xerox machine."

"You can't get to better without first getting to different. Every blessed day. Believe me, it'll wear you out. No, I'm not suggesting the easy way out: this is the exhausting way out. But it's also the exciting way out, the alive way out."

This week, I'm teaching at the Wow Institute in Henniker, New Hampshire. 75 fundraisers from across North America have come seeking ideas to make them better. If we're successful, participants will learn to become innovative flukologists and expert coin-flippers who reject 'ordinary' and are committed to pursuing 'different' every day. It's the risky path, but it's also the only path to 'better,' the only path to 'extraordinary.'

(from www.crawdaddycove.com)

This is a good book, but I'd say it's a bit thin on detail and information. It is basically composed of many feel good success stories.
There's no knowledge here that I found to be of of the ordinary or particularly helpful, but's a good easy read.

A very very good book. The great thing about this book is that once you start reading is, you will not let go... The book tries to reinvent our thinking from the normal rut. Definately a good read. You might not agree with the author at certain junctures, but then he comes up with very good examples.

This book was my introduction to Dale Dauten and remains one of my favorite business books because of the novel way the author finds to make practical advice memorable.

The book is organized as a conversation between a successful entreprenuer and a stranded burned-out businessman at snowed-in O'Hare airport. Max Elmore,our hero, helps his new friend see the nature of innovation and the connection between innovation and business success.

For the person who wants the reputation as an innovator (and ain't that what makes life fun?) this is a little book that can be read and understood in a few short hours.

If you have the courage to devote the additional time to completing the exercises outlined in the book you can expect to uncover some interesting experiments that might lead you to some new methods and new thinking.

If you are interested in innovatation and experimentation as an employee or a business owner, the few hours reading this book will be richly rewarded.

Couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone that has DARES to dream... It puts success in "simple" terms and not anything like the corporate books I have read in the past- that advises mostly on the "rules" on how you "should" do things....I LOVED IT! I'll probably re-read in about 6 months...

I bought this book to help with my transition to a director's position at a nonprofit organization. It contains very useful and concrete ideas, in addition to case studies from different organizational types (i.e., an example of succession in public agency, a non-profit organization, etc.). I would definitely suggest this book for anyone thinking of systematizing succession.

Rothwell's book is one of the more comprehensive and well researched books covering this growing topic. It includes a wealth of information following all of the major steps of the Succession Planning process. The book contains useful worksheets and task process flows that allow a reader to rapidly introduce the core concepts into their organisation. A great resource.

easy to understand and absorb great intro reference

The need for succession planning is reaching crisis proportions, yet few organizations are willing to face the crisis and do something about it.

There's nothing magic here---just a realistic, comprehensvie, flexible approach to get the job done. The strenghts in this book:
- Finding the right devleopmental activity for the right level of management
- Design, gain support, and implement, and maintain your succession process.
- Lots of extras, including assessments and a plan to devleop a mentoring program.

A great value.

Rothwell provides not only an excellent review of the current literature but countless worksheets for practice. If you are interested in succession planning issues this book is a must. I would also recommend "The Leadership Pipeline" by Charan, Drotter, & Noel. And buy a copy of "Strategic Organizational Learning" by Beitler. Beitler has several free articles on his website "[...]" that are also helpful.

Laura Taylor
Baltimore, MD

I must say that this publication has become the sole reason for the efficasiousness we are experiencing in my company's financial decision making. I was not sure how behavioral finance can help me and my company, but after reading a few chapters it all came together. I am positive that our margins will increase by 25-35% over the next 3 years. If I had a boss, he would give me raise for applying this book to our company's financial lifestyle. But I am the boss, so I will give myself a raise! Seriously, thank you Dr. E. Ted Prince for developing and sharing such genius work.

Socrates said "know thyself." This book gives you the power to do it. Mr. Prince's financial signatures are the keys to understanding how your personality directly affects your financial behavior. And this applies not just to the financial ramblings of major corporations, but how you handle finances in your personal life as well. Well written and easily relatable. A fascinating read!

This book is an excellent read for anyone who wants to better understand the key factors for building and maintaining a successful business. By examining the key traits and behaviors of executives, which combine to form the concept of "financial signature", Prince leads the reader to understand exactly how this signature impacts his or her organization. He also uses real-life examples to more clearly illustrate the concepts, including the successes and failures of many famous leaders in today's business world.

Beyond merely presenting these concepts, Prince further teaches the reader exactly how to determine his or her own financial signature and how to apply, and potentially adjust this signature, in order to be a more effective and successful leader. Anyone in a management position will benefit tremendously from this book, as it will teach all readers how to better understand their own management styles and more effectively align their actions with the overall goals of their organizations.

Having recently started a small business, I found the concepts in this book to be extremely valuable. As I was reading the book, I could see my own financial behavior laid out in the many detailed examples of CEOs and other business leaders. The concept is relatively simple: adding value versus spending money. The brilliance is in being able to find out where you fit in. This book has actually helped me to see where my danger points lie and how to correct them.

Finally there has been research done to accurately predict something in the financial world. And what better field to be accurate in than human behavior. It is obvious we make the most errors, and our money is always in the hands of someone else, who is relying on someone else, who is relying on the CEO. I must say that this book has opened my eyes greatly into a path I never knew existed.

The FISO factor is an imaginative way to approach a way to succeed in the corporate world.

Blythe's book has become the centerpiece of how I fit leadership and personal development into a tight circle - when I look at all the leadership, consulting and other books; they fit into one of the FISO Factor Catalysts. This makes FISO the foundation, the leadership platform as Blythe states, of personal success. I've now recommended this book to over 100 people without hesitation. Life long learning dictates continuing to read new books and developing ones' self and FISO with the six catalysts is the center of the mind map. When you have read your Zig Ziglar and Stephen Covey, sit down with this book as you develop your mission statement and you will be rewarded. But remember, to successfully execute your mission statement, you will need the skills to fit in and stand out - the FISO Factor.

Author Blythe McGarvie presents a thoughtful, intelligent analysis of the paradox of leadership success - the simultaneous needs to "fit in" and "stand out" She teaches the prospective executive how to build a strong platform of leadership, resting firmly on this seemingly contradictory foundation. McGarvie explains that to be accepted and allowed to thrive, you must learn how to integrate or "fit in" to your company's culture and structure. Then, you must also "stand out" by visibly exhibiting your strengths, intelligence and talents, so you can move up the ladder. Drawing on her extensive executive experience, she breaks the "FISO Factor" down into six basic elements including fiscal savvy, honor, perceptiveness, networking, thirst for knowledge and worldwide citizenship. We recommend this well-reasoned, thought-provoking leadership development program to anyone who is searching for the keys to unlock the executive suite.

Ethical standards and implications can make or break a company today" example, Enron. "In late 1999, several years before the high-profile revelations of corporate misconduct that began emerging in and after 2001," a survey of employee perceptions of organizational and leadership integrity discovered that 76 percent said they had observed violations of the law or company standards in the past twelve months. Clearly, U. S. employees are witnessing ethical and legal misconduct at work. Thus, a crisis in integrity leads directly to a crisis in trust. Integrity is a business imperative.

Prior to the "Scientific Revolution," mysticism was an integral and unquestioned part of human beliefs. The North Star has spiritual and mythical significance. Alternately called the Fire Star and the Chief Star by different groups. Integrity is clearly the Chief Star of today's business leaders because it creates a context for everything they do. Integrity's definition has evolved over the years but today its primary meaning as a "steadfast adherence to strict moral or ethical code" is widely acknowledged. Ethics is a key quality in long-term leadership success.

Globalization is our passport to business opportunity. Corporations exist in an ever-connected global community. Global citizenship enables leaders to transcend geographic boundaries. However, globalization is controversial today, viewed by many as un-American.

Everyone ages, but we all know people who never seem to get old. Sure, they have wrinkles and gray hair, but because they also have a sparkle in their eyes and active, open minds, we tend not to perceive them as "old." How do these people retain their youthful countenance? "Often, it is their interest in the world, their curiosity. They have discovered a wellspring of renewal that drives passion, alertness, and spirit. It is a love of learning." Business cannot hope to prosper in a foreign country, "be it Romania, China, or Peru, without an appreciation for the values, beliefs, social mores, politics, tastes, and fears of the people in that country. Philosophy, history, and literature can provide the access to thoughts and feelings of a culture."

Business is but one aspect of life's experience, hardly distinct or isolated from the environment in which it functions. "Business success depends upon people and therefore upon awareness of politics, social trends, attitudes and values, and a myriad of other expressions of human emotions, fears, drives, and desires. Literature and philosophy are the best sources for appreciating whatever universals might exist among people over time and place. Literature and history allow for a more time sensitive and culturally determined appreciation of the human condition." The author's father obtained his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1969.

In 1865, an Oxford mathematician named Charles Lutwidge Dodson self-published a flight of fancy which has entranced both children and adults ever since. "Writing as Lewis Carrol, Dodson created an excellent parable for all aspiring leaders" by the title, "Alice In Wonderland." Historically, the integrity of corporate leaders has often been questioned. "The Robber Barons of the late 19th century, men such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius and William Vanderbilt, and J. P. Morgan, were accused of building great personal fortunes by unsavory means. Interestingly, the widespread use of the derogatory label dates to the 1930s and the era of the Great Depression, which is often blamed on the manipulations of business leaders or poor government responses. During both world wars, corporate leaders were accussed of profiteering."

She ends with this quote, often attributed to Dale Carnegie: "Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get." It is her hope that this book helps you find both, in business and in life.

There are important connections between success, business ethics, and financial strengths: connections illustrated in Fit In Stand Out: Mastering The Fiso Factor. Author Blythe McGarvie is a leadership expert who has taught effectiveness for many years: during the course of her teachings she discovered a basic lesson: in order to be a successful leader you must both fit in and stand out. The two are not opposites necessarily, as chapters here demonstrate: McGarvie reveals a FISO Factor program which helps business professionals learn how to achieve both.

It's easy to pick out what makes a particular brand distinct and valuable... Apple, Costco, Wal-mart all have a definite public perception that drives their operation. In the book Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused Leaders to Drive Performance and Build Lasting Value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, the authors contend that each company also has a "leadership brand" that helps drive that public perception and that enables the company and employees deliver on those expectations.

Contents:
Branding Leadership; The Case for Building a Leadership Brand; Creating a Leadership Brand Statement; Assessing Leaders Against the Brand; Investing in Leadership Brand; Measuring Return on Leadership Brand; Building Awareness for Leadership Brand; Preserving Leadership Brand; Implications for Personal Brand; Criteria for a Firm Brand; Firms with Branded Leadership; Notes; Index; About the Authors

Ulrich and Smallwood do a good job in changing the way that an organization's leaders are normally viewed. Using the "brand" concept, building and promoting leaders is based on an underlying element that lends a continuity to how the company performs and delivers in the marketplace. These types of leaders are the ones that allow a company to consistently lead their market niche over a long period of time. It's obviously not a "quick-fix" solution to a company that's failing. You don't just decide "here's our leadership brand, so lead in this way" one Monday morning. Using the measured approach outlined here, it's possible to start to attract and promote the type of person that will complement the core message of your company.

Legendary organizational theorist James March once called leadership a "bogus concept." His disparaging label definitely applies to the fuzzy material masquerading as leadership on the shelves of most bookstores. In Leadership Brand, Ulrich and Smallwood avoid this trap. Their "brand" metaphor is useful in at least two ways. First, it links leadership development to a business concept most people understand: brand development. This makes the ideas more concrete. Second, it follows logically from Ulrich and Smallwood's recent emphasis on intangibles, the non-financial assets that account for nearly half of a publicly traded company's market capitalization. Powerful brands epitomize intangible value, but leadership is perhaps the king of intangibles, since it drives all other organization capabilities. Linking the two concepts -- leadership and brand -- is a nice touch. Ulrich and Smallwood are developing an impressive stream of related work, of which Leadership Brand is the latest and perhaps best exemplar.

Customers associate Wal-Mart with wide product selection and low prices, Federal Express with prompt, reliable service, and Apple Computer with innovation and elegant design. These qualities define this trio of companies in the marketplace. They make them special. They are their all-important brands. Similarly, today's companies also should develop special "leadership brands" for their executives. Such brands should embody what makes these companies truly distinctive, and thus mark them - and their style of corporate management - as singular and meritorious. Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood are two of America's most respected experts on business leadership. Here, they explain why a company's leadership brand really matters. We recommend this study of the inherent logic and intrinsic value of acknowledging and promoting your company's particular style of leadership - its leadership brand.

Here's the Quick Review of Leadership Brand: Developing customer-focused leaders to drive performance and build lasting value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood.

HOW THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT:
Concentrates on leadership as a company endeavor, not as a matter of individual growth.
The authors attempt to get you to analyze your company's leadership from the outside in.

STRENGTHS:
This is truly about leadership development in the company.
The chapter on "Assessing Leaders Against the Brand" is worth the price of the book.
Good research and citations.

WARNINGS:
You may have trouble reading this book from cover to cover.
What's here is far too programmatic to be practical taken whole.
The concept of "Leadership Brand" may get in your way.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you're interested in leadership development, this book should be on your shelf.

Now for the detailed review.

There's not much new about leadership. But every new leadership book attempts to give you something unique, a new way to look at the subject, new things to try, or old things to try in different way. Every book tries to shift your thinking.

Leadership Brand by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood attempts to shift your thinking from studying leaders to studying leadership and toward influencing how leaders connect the company to customers and other "outsiders." They work through the metaphor of a "leadership brand," which they tell us is "the identity of the firm in the mind of the customers made real to employees because of customercentric leadership behaviors."

That quote tells you that this book will stretch your thinking about leadership development in your company. It also tells you that the authors are overanalyzing and, yes, branding the process they describe. Here's a quick chapter outline

Branding Leadership - the authors introduce their concept of Leadership Brand

There are six chapters that lay out the process in step-by-step fashion.

Creating a Leadership Brand Statement
Assessing Leaders Against the Brand - worth reading if you read nothing else
Investing in Leadership Brand
Measuring Return on Leadership Brand
Building Awareness for Leadership Brand
Preserving Leadership Brand

Implications for Personal Brand

There are two Appendices

Criteria for a Firm Brand - worth reading for an overview of things to do
Firms with Branded Leadership

HOW THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT

Leadership Brand concentrates on leadership as a company endeavor, not as a matter of individual growth. That makes it different from most leadership books, but similar to recent books like The Leadership Pipeline.

The authors also attempt to get you to analyze your company's leadership from the outside in. This is a powerful concept and one you can use in any company.

If you start thinking about leadership development by thinking about the results that need to be produced, you will see things that you won't see with the "competency" or "trait" approach. You will also be able to identify the ways that leadership at your company needs to be different than leadership at other companies.

STRENGTHS

This is truly about leadership development in the company. It will help you develop a leadership development program or modify what you've got.

The chapter on "Assessing Leaders Against the Brand" is worth the price of the book. This chapter is filled with tools and references that will help you assess leadership and leadership development whether you use the authors' program or not.

I love leadership books that are well-researched. Because the authors describe their thinking and support their points with research, you can judge whether you agree. You can also adapt a point or suggestion more effectively to your own situation.


WARNINGS

You may have trouble reading this book from cover to cover. The prose is absolutely tortured at times.

What's here is far too programmatic to be practical taken whole. Like so many programmatic books, this one lays our multiple, detailed steps and makes it seem like you go through them, bang-bang-bang in a linear fashion.

The fact is that the kind of changes the authors are calling for require changes in multiple company systems and in the culture. It's a generational process that will take years, not months.

The concept of "Leadership Brand" may get in your way. It did for me.

I never understood how a "leadership brand" was different than the culture and values of a company. Ultimately I just substituted "culture and values" in my head every time I read "leadership brand." That seemed to work fine.

BOTTOM LINE

If you're interested in leadership development, this book should be on your shelf.

In the Preface, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood make this affirmation: "We believe that leaders matter, but leadership matters more. We have all experienced a gifted leader who engaged all of us -- our hearts, minds, and feet. Dynamic leaders enlist us in a cause, and we willingly follow their counsel. But leadership exists when an organization produces more than one to two individual leaders. Leadership matters more because it is tied not to a person but to the process of building leaders." By no means do Ulrich and Smallwood question the importance of individual leaders. On the contrary, they assert (and I agree) that one of the most important obligations of being a leader is to strengthen or at least sustain a process by which to identify, hire, develop, and then retain high-impact leaders at all levels and in all areas throughout her or his organization.

With regard to this book's title, Ulrich and Smallwood offer another affirmation: "We believe that all organizations have a leadership brand, either explicitly crafted and deployed or implicitly perceived and randomly perpetuated...[Therefore] leadership brand is the identity of the leaders throughout an organization that bridges customer expectations and employee and organizational behavior." I've noticed that in recent years, several of the same companies (e.g. Berkshire Hathaway, FedEx, GE, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, and Toyota Motor) appear on the annual lists of those Most Valuable as well as those Most Highly Admired. These exemplary companies all have high-impact leadership that consistently produces superior results. I've also noticed that the U.S. military services and their academies are also renowned for the high quality of their leadership development programs. However different these organizations are in most respects, they do share this in common: Each has devised a high-impact leadership program that is appropriate to their specific needs and objectives.

As Ulrich and Smallwood correctly point out, a brand combines an identity with a reputation among various constituencies. "Leadership brand is the identity of the firm in the in the mind of the customers, made real to employees because of customercentric leadership behaviors. In other words, leadership brand occurs when leaders' knowledge, skills, and values focus employee behavior on the factors that target the issues that customers care about." The challenge for any organization (whatever its size or nature) is to formulate a program ensuring that everyone in that organization embraces the values, gains the knowledge, and strengthens the skills needed to drive performance and build lasting value.

After briefly explaining the "what" in Chapters 1 & 2 (i.e. what leadership brand is and why it is important), Ulrich and Smallwood devote the remaining chapters to "how," answering questions such as these:

3. What is a "brand statement"?
3. How to prepare one?
4. How to assess leaders against the brand?
5. How to invest in the leadership brand?
6. How to measure its ROI?
7. How to create and then increase awareness of it?

Note: My own opinion is that creating and then increasing awareness of the leadership brand should precede measuring its ROI. That is, I would reverse the order of what are now Chapters 6 & 7.

8. How to preserve it?
9. What are the implications of a leadership brand for a personal brand?

Then in two appendices, Ulrich and Smallwood review the criteria for a firm brand and include the last of several self-diagnostics, "Diagnosis for leadership brand"). Then in the second appendix, they briefly discuss their research on the top firms for managing quality, suggesting that some function as "feeder firms" because they "feed the demands for next-generation leaders in other firms." For example, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson Controls, and Kraft. Non-profits include the Drucker Foundation, UNICEF, and the U.S. Marine Corps.

With regard to the U.S.M.C., Jon Katzenbach is quoted in a footnote to Appendix B: "Their mantra is simple and compelling and I first heard it articulated by Brig. General John Ryan (ret.) as follows: `We want all of our leaders - at every level -to focus on only two things: First, mission accomplishment; you will accomplish your mission no matter what...Second, and of equal importance, you will take care of each and every one of your Marines - let me repeat that that, you will take care of each and every Marine in your unit.' I have often thought that if all aspiring young leaders focused on these two things they could go a long way down their journey to becoming admirable leaders at whatever level they gravitate to."

I especially appreciate the provision of self-diagnostics as well as various "Tables" that organize key points within the context of a given chapter. They include Figure 3-1, "Creating a leadership brand statement" (Page 53), Figure 4-3, "Collaborative behaviors" (Page 94), Figure 7-1, (Pages 166-167), and Figure 9-1, "Creating a personal brand" (Page 212). Reader-friendly devices such as these facilitate, indeed accelerate frequent review of key points later.

Credit Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood with providing in a single volume just about as much information and counsel as most organizations will need to devise and implement or strengthen a process by which to produce the high-impact leaders it needs. In my opinion, becoming a "leadership brand" is only one result of that process. Moreover, everyone should be involved both as a student and as a mentor. Exemplary companies are proud of their current, hard-earned reputation as a "leadership brand" while keeping in mind that the high quality of their leaders will continue only if they constantly nourish and strengthen the process by which they are developed. For that reason, I strongly recommend that all decision-makers in a given organization read this book, then discuss it with other members of senior management. It would be a serious mistake to try to apply everything that Ulrich and Smallwood recommend but equally irresponsible to have no development process whatsoever. As they suggest when concluding their book, "the journey to leadership brand begins with the self." Bon voyage!

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out Judgment co-authored by Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis, Ram Charan's Know-How and his more recent Leaders at All Levels, Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, The New American Workplace co-authored by James O'Toole and Edward Lawler, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

After reviewing several books on Strategic Execution, I was continuously left with the feeling that the authors had ommitted a key ingredient. This book has convinced me that that key ingredient was "Alignment".
This book was published 10 years ago (OK, I am embarrassed that I have only just got around to reading it) but it is as significant today as it was when it was first published. Probably more so considering the rapid state of change that most companies are faced with today.
It is a simple read, and the concepts are easy to follow. What I enjoyed most about the book is that the suggestions are practical and you can take them and implement them immediately within an organization.
I noticed that one of the readers who has reviewed the book said that the book was required reading for his MBA course. 10 years on, I still think it should be required reading for any business executive.

I'm always looking for visual ways of understanding critical elements of strategy. The Power of Alignment offers a very helpful way of thinking about four important ingredients in keeping the main thing, the main thing. Vertical alignment, the relationship between your strategy and the people on your team, "energizes...provides direction, and offers opportunity for involvement." Horizontal alignment refers to the connection between your processes and customers. Taken together the two measures provide some great insight into the development of genuine alignment.

One of the most interesting elements of the book is a 16 question diagnostic tool that is designed to provide a graphic view of your organization's alignment. Very helpful!

Great book! The basic premise is that once a business has a raison d'etre, or a 'main thing', that profits are maximized by the alignment of four key business areas: Strategy, Processes, People, and Customers. Built on this premise are actionalbe ways to build a self-aligning organization. I got the sense of discovering truth while I read this book. Leadership isn't really about power, it is about responsibility. This book shows a manager at any level how to align his area to the overall strategy of the company and to the end products of the company. It shows how processes should be designed and what factors should be used to reward, recognize and evaluate employees. Great food for thought and realistic to implement.

Five Stars

Quite simply, this book was one of the best business management and leadership books I have ever read. It was well-written and expertly balanced management and leadership concepts with real-world examples of effectively aligned organizations, such as Federal Express and Southwest Airlines. This book should be read and discussed by leaders and managers at all levels, especially by mid- to senior-level executives.

In brief, alignment deals with the relationships among the people, processes, strategy, and customers of an organization relative to that organization's purpose, or what the authors called "the main thing." Alignment is both a noun, a state of being, and a verb, a set of actions. Vertical alignment connects organizational strategy with the people responsible for transforming that strategy into meaningful work. Horizontal alignment deals with understanding your customers' wants and then creating processes to deliver what your customers want, when and how they want it. Effective leadership nurtures the organizational culture that is built around and upon "the main thing," and it is this culture and leadership combination that drives and sustains self-aligning organizations in turbulent times.

The authors' analogy of landing a plane helped me to visualize the dynamics involved with organizational alignment. To land a plane, a pilot must adjust and react to multiple simultaneous factors and conditions (i.e. air speed, altitude, angle of approach, wind speed and direction, etc.) and then understand how a change in one will affect the others. Likewise, to align an organization, a leader must adjust and react to feedback about his people, processes, strategy, and customers, and then understand how a change in one will affect the others.

The authors clearly and thoroughly explained the alignment factors and conditions throughout the book. They followed their explanations with incisive questions for readers to ask about themselves and their organizations to assess their degree of alignment. Those questions were definitely a highlight of the book for they really helped to stimulate my thinking and should help inspire organizational progress to alignment. Another highlight was the appendices that contained examples of actual tools and products used and created by some of the aligned organizations studied by the authors.

The inside back cover jacket sums up why I give the book my highest recommendation: "Essential reading for all managers and executives, "The Power of Alignment" offers a new way to reestablish focus and sustained energy, and is a dynamic approach for staying balanced and achieving extraordinary levels of performance."

I found this book easy reading, concise, and presented it's basic premise well with specific examples and good suggestions for creation and implementation.

Working as a Director in Managed Care for several pharmaceutical companies, it creates a focus for any organization and a roadmap for the future(physician, health plan, pharmaceutical company) to avoid many of the mistakes and pitfalls that have already been experienced in an attempt to align with the ever changing healthcare landscape.

For those who do account management, it provides a construct and roadmap to use to optimize alignment with internal customers and maximize resources to create value and return with the external customers (....and their customers.) As the authors point, alignment is a continuing process, not a single event in time. Many companies become quickly aligned with the past, and misaligned with the present & future, and can not sustain the competitive edge because they forget this basic premise that the authors reinforce.

The concepts are basic and fundamental, but usually overlooked and forgotten in the day to day business of rapidly growing companies and changing environments.

Immense credit must be given to Dr. Gaines-Ross who bravely and successfully takes on, notwithstanding the post Enron anti-CEO environment, the hypersensitive issue of CEO reputation. Yes, agrees Gaines-Ross, being a high profile, ego obsessed CEO is asking for trouble and is to be avoided like the plague. She refuses, however, to engage in the now fashionable tendency toward unrestrained CEO bashing, preferring instead a reasoned, astute and carefully researched analysis of the CEO's role.

While adding her voice to those who deride media hyped personalities, what she refers to as big "C" Celebrity CEOs, she cautions that old fashioned leadership is still desirable. When engaged in by talented CEOs, it may, indeed should, lead to the creation of an executive persona. Such a persona need not require media exposure and is entirely compatible with sound corporate practice. Such persona bearing CEOs are small "c" celebrated CEOs, who "by dint of strong leadership, discriminating vision, force of character and other admirable traits become celebrated by their employees, their industry, their peers, and occasionally (though not necessarily) even the media for jobs well done."

Gaines-Ross' book amounts to a much needed, intellectually honest warning not to let the anti-CEO backlash go too far. Refusing to jump blindly onto the anti-CEO bandwagon as have so many business pundits, she stresses that executive leadership is still necessary and if effectively and ethically rendered is something which should not be hidden under the rug but promoted openly. In pursuing the cause of sound, old fashioned corporate leadership, she lays out a roadmap, based on original research, on how CEOs may repair their reputations, stressing among other things the need to communicate internally, build a management team, develop a thematic stamp and a vision.

She deserves immense praise not only for her honest appraisal of the role of CEOs in today's business environment but also for presenting an immensely practical and useful format on how to lead ethically, energetically and effectively.

A major, original addition to the literature on leadership and reputation ... no doubt about it.

Immense credit must be given to Dr. Gaines-Ross who bravely and successfully takes on, notwithstanding the post Enron anti-CEO environment, the hypersensitive issue of CEO reputation. Yes, agrees Gaines-Ross, being a high profile, ego obsessed CEO is asking for trouble and is to be avoided like the plague. She refuses, however, to engage in the now fashionable tendency toward unrestrained CEO bashing, preferring instead a reasoned, astute and carefully researched analysis of the CEO's role.

While adding her voice to those who deride media hyped personalities, what she refers to as big "C" Celebrity CEOs, she cautions that old fashioned leadership is still desirable. When engaged in by talented CEOs, it may, indeed should, lead to the creation of an executive persona. Such a persona need not require media exposure and is entirely compatible with sound corporate practice. Such persona bearing CEOs are small "c" celebrated CEOs, who "by dint of strong leadership, discriminating vision, force of character and other admirable traits become celebrated by their employees, their industry, their peers, and occasionally (though not necessarily) even the media for jobs well done."

Gaines-Ross' book amounts to a much needed, intellectually honest warning not to let the anti-CEO backlash go too far. Refusing to jump blindly onto the anti-CEO bandwagon as have so many business pundits, she stresses that executive leadership is still necessary and if effectively and ethically rendered is something which should not be hidden under the rug but promoted openly. In pursuing the cause of sound, old fashioned corporate leadership, she lays out a roadmap, based on original research, on how CEOs may repair their reputations, stressing among other things the need to communicate internally, build a management team, develop a thematic stamp and a vision.

She deserves immense praise not only for her honest appraisal of the role of CEOs in today's business environment but also for presenting an immensely practical and useful format on how to lead ethically, energetically and effectively.

A major, original addition to the literature on leadership and reputation ... no doubt about it.

We have all been witness to the lionisation, and thereafter, the demonisation of CEOs.

As we watched some of the finest corporate reputations bite the dust, we also became acutely aware that there is no 'secret sauce' to brew a fine reputation. Yet there are some basic principles that apply and that is what this book sheds light on.

CEO Capital is not about impression management or building personality cults. Nor is it a simple 1-2-3 recipe for assembling a chief executive's reputation. It is for serious business professionals who recognise and honour the immensity of the chief executive's job, especially in today's complex business environment.

Over the past few years, Burson-Marsteller has contributed significantly to the body of knowledge through a series of research studies looking at CEO reputation and its contribution to broader corporate reputation. Those studies have found a significant - and growing - correlation between the credibility of the chief executive and reputation of his or her organisation.

The principal architect of that research is Leslie Gaines-Ross, B-M's chief knowledge officer, who joined the firm after serving as director of marketing and communication at Fortune magazine, where she was closely involved in the publication's Most Admired Corporations research.

In the book, Gaines-Ross builds on Burson's research and lays out a roadmap for CEOs who understand the increasing importance of both personal and institutional credibility. CEO reputation, according to this book, is dependent upon three 'C' factors -credibility, code of ethics, and communicating internally - and two 'M' factors - attracting and retaining a quality management team and motivating and inspiring employees.

So important are the CM factors that each one surpassed even wealth creation in importance according to the 2001 Burson-Marsteller study, she writes. Evidently, financial performance is important, but simply not enough.

Gaines-Ross makes a compelling case that building CEO capital is not about ego, but about good, old-fashioned leadership. And she shows that it has payoffs for the organisation. But before embarking on what Gaines-Ross calls "the CEO capital model of building reputation," the CEO must buy into the importance of building his or her personal credibility.

The most practical section of the book, based upon B-M's 'Seasons of a CEO' research, provides a roadmap for a new CEO seeking to build credibility inside and outside the organisation.

That task begins in the countdown period, before he or she takes office. The countdown is a time to cherish -a time when a CEO may quietly plan for the future, contact key shareholders, research the company, and do all those innumerable tasks for which there will be so little time later, says Gaines-Ross.

The first 100 days of a CEO's tenure are critical, and a time when the focus should be inward rather than on external audiences.

The media should be low on the list of priorities for a new CEO during the first 100 days, says Gaines-Ross. Media exposure without full opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of corporate workings is an invitation to disaster.

As the first year progresses, the focus slowly shifts. The CEO must establish a unique corporate persona in which the CEO's every action and deed reflects in some way the corporate values the CEO wishes to advance and the vision the CEO wishes to instil.

The first step is to engage in what Gaines-Ross calls "intense learning," from customers, from analysts, from alumni, from employees. Then, she says, CEOs can cultivate a persona, establishing those values that will drive the company, articulating a code of ethics.

The second year of a CEO's tenure can be even more challenging because this is when the change really gets binding and the stakeholders, including the board of directors, start to expect real, measurable results.

The CEO needs to demonstrate the company's new strategic vision, put stakeholders at ease - show them both financial results and a unified management team - and start to plan for the future.

The CEO also needs to demonstrate what Gaines-Ross calls thought leadership, something that "distinguishes and differentiates a company from its competitors... Thought leadership often breaks with business or industry convention, astonishes if not startles. Thought leadership reflects on the company and builds CEO capital."

Gaines-Ross ends the book with two appeals. The first is for a longer CEO timetable. B-M's research has shown that all stakeholders expect more of CEOs, and faster. But "the trend toward increasingly shorter CEO tenures is undermining business productivity and focus," says Gaines-Ross.

"Fewer CEOs seem to make it past the five-quarter mark and even fewer beyond their three-year anniversary. Such instability irrevocably and adversely affects a company's reputation and destiny. Chief executive departures have substantially adverse consequences, affecting too many employees, customers, partners, and investors." The second appeal is related, a call for a longer-term view.

This is substantial addition to the literature of our profession, a manifesto supported by compelling original research and informed by intelligent, sympathetic analysis. It is also a rare book about public relations that preaches not to the choir but to the choirmasters.

(The reviewer is Principal and Founder, Genesis Public Relations, India)

Until I read this book I did not realize the importance of communicating the 'how','why', 'when' of each executive decision. Given the crisis environment dominating corporate America today, I think CEOs need to add another word to their title and become chief executive and communications officers. Without communicating and finding their voice as leaders, I think CEOs will have a hard time earning public trust. This book provides a great blue print for understanding the commotion we read about in the papers.

In CEO Capital, Leslie Gaines-Ross has written an insightful and enlightening book for those who want to increase the positive visibility and reputation of their CEO. It is a surprise to this reviewer that more books have not been written on the subject of how to master the art of building your reputation when both your own personal future and corporate future may be resting on it.

The celebrity hungry society of today looks to corporate movers and shakers especially the CEO as icons of a particular company. Think about Lee Iacocca, Jack Welch, Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to mention just a few. How much of your opinion of these companies (and notice I don't even have to mention which companies they run/ran) is based on your perceived image of the CEO? The phrase `you are your company' has never been more true, especially in the post Enron & Arthur Anderson world. How has your opinion of Enron changed now that you know more about Jeff Skilling and Andrew Fastow? Despite any fraud at Enron being committed by the few and not the masses of the organization, our entire perception of Enron has shifted to the iconic few.

Part I of CEO Capital is a contextual look at CEO capital: what it is, where it comes from and how it can be built. Gaines-Ross draws us in by looking at the CEO Effect by citing some examples as far back as 1985 starting with Roberto Goizueta, then CEO of Coca-Cola and the whole `New Coke' revolt, that could have been a fatal disaster for the company. But Goizueta, trading on his CEO capital, not only avoided being removed but was able to bring the company back even stronger.

Part II is most interesting and is centered on the five stages postulated in the CEO capital model which take you by the hand, and step by step go through best practices (ed: hate that term but in this situation it is apt), principles and linkages to factors affecting the building of CEO capital. As the book says, `the reader may be left with the impression that the stages read almost like a manual on how to lead a company. This perception is quite acceptable and entirely reasonable because nothing is more conducive to building CEO capital than building a strong, high-performing company. Any similarity between the two is entirely intentional.' Which is indeed how it reads, but in doing so, broadens the scope of the content to be relevant to a wider audience of business managers and executives who may not be leading Fortune 500 type companies (yet!). In fact, they may be the very leaders who will gain most from this book, since they are not too arrogant to learn and may gain the most from any capital building opportunities presented to them.

Chapters in the book include guidance on the Countdown (the time before the CEO-elect takes office), the First One Hundred days and the First Year, and then of course the second year in office which is always much harder than the first.

Gaines-Ross has written a truly pioneering work - overall an excellent book on a little-written about subject. The book is practically written and you should not let its somewhat `user manual' style detract you from putting its advice into action. Recommended for CEOs and CEOs to-be of all sized companies, as well as other corporate officers and marketing/PR professionals who may guide along the process.