Amazon.co.uk Review
Not many of us have the benefit of sitting down and picking the brains of top CEOs, the kind of guys who get their pictures on the covers of Forbes and Fortune and whose companies' quarterly earnings are reported on the evening news. Wisdom of the CEO doesn't exactly give you face time, but it does feature 29 corporate leaders talking about the issues that drive modern business--growth, innovation, shareholder value, and globalisation among them.
Some of the names are those you'd expect--Michael Dell talking about growth, Sony's Nobuyuki Idea on innovation--but others are a surprise. For example, the postmaster general of the United States has written a chapter called "Firing Up the Evangelical Organization", in which he talks about the inherent contradictions of a company that is a monopoly but still has to compete for market share with publicly traded companies. The chapter on knowledge management comes last in the book, but contains the most interesting metaphor: Yahoo! chairman and CEO Timothy Koogle compares the proliferation of new information to bug spray, which works by forcing bugs to keep twitching until they run out of food or oxygen and thus die. Knowledge workers and organisations are like that, he says: if they can't find the information they need quickly, in language that's meaningful to them, they'll just keep searching until they run themselves into the ground. Not that this is a book built on clever metaphors. Two of the authors are partners with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the giant accountancy firm, and the third is a former partner. A reader doesn't expect zinging prose from this trio, and shouldn't be disappointed when it's not found. Instead, the book offers straightforward analysis of how business has changed in the past two decades and how it figures to continue changing. --Lou Schuler, Amazon.com
Admap, January 2000
"This book is packed with examples..." "The writing is lively.." "Read it."
Product Description
How Will Yahoo! Stay on Top in the Twenty–First Century? Sony? DuPont? Why Not Ask Their CEOs? Wisdom of the CEO introduces you to 29 visionaries who are actively changing today′s business paradigm. These top global business leaders explain how they are confronting the eight key issues driving business today–Globalization, Growth, Shareholder Value, Innovation, E–Business, Disruptive Technology, Organization, and Knowledge Management–and give you valuable guidance for maintaining and strengthening your own company′s market share. Listen to the voices of experience as they discuss hot–button issues including:
∗ The Internet–How will e–commerce change customer demands and expectations? K. Blake Darcy, CEO of online trading powerhouse DLJdirect, explains the new rules.
∗ Shareholder Value–Can a leader focus all of a company′s strategic efforts on shareholder value? Sir Brian Pitman explains how managers throughout the Lloyds organization–acting as value–creation strategists–are helping him to do just that.
∗ Disruptive Technology–Can established companies exploit disruptive technologies as effectively as their start–up competitors? CEO Roger G. Ackerman reveals how Corning can–and does.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is renowned for its commitment to helping world–class companies make better business decisions and hone their competitive strategies. With Wisdom of the CEO, Dauphinais, Means, and Price assemble an impressive, unprecedented gathering of today′s leading business minds to discuss the trends that are propelling global business into the twenty–first century–and how they are positioning their companies to take full advantage of those trends.
∗ The Internet–How will e–commerce change customer demands and expectations? K. Blake Darcy, CEO of online trading powerhouse DLJdirect, explains the new rules.
∗ Shareholder Value–Can a leader focus all of a company′s strategic efforts on shareholder value? Sir Brian Pitman explains how managers throughout the Lloyds organization–acting as value–creation strategists–are helping him to do just that.
∗ Disruptive Technology–Can established companies exploit disruptive technologies as effectively as their start–up competitors? CEO Roger G. Ackerman reveals how Corning can–and does.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is renowned for its commitment to helping world–class companies make better business decisions and hone their competitive strategies. With Wisdom of the CEO, Dauphinais, Means, and Price assemble an impressive, unprecedented gathering of today′s leading business minds to discuss the trends that are propelling global business into the twenty–first century–and how they are positioning their companies to take full advantage of those trends.
From the Inside Flap
"Innovation . doesn′t consist only of breakthroughs; incremental innovation is no less important to sustained business success." –Nobuyuki Idei, President and CEO Sony Corporation Wisdom of the CEO presents 29 of the world′s most respected and influential corporate leaders–CEOs ranging from Dr. Daniel Vasella of Novartis and Timothy Koogle of Yahoo! to Jacques A. Nasser of Ford and Peter I. Bijur of Texaco–discussing how they are preparing today to meet the challenges of a radically changed twenty–first century business environment. Representing numerous industries, technologies, and perspectives, these giants of industry share their views on strategies to exploit today′s technological innovations, tips for marketing in a world where international borders have been effectively eliminated, and much more. Their candid opinions form a blueprint for corporate success–a blueprint with untold value in today′s era of global business convergence. "Hypergrowth companies are quintessential learn–by–doing organizations." –Michael S. Dell, Chairman and CEO Dell Computer Corporation Candid . forthright . unpredictable . Wisdom of the CEO mirrors the changing face of business itself. Listen carefully to these titans of industry as they reveal:
∗ Strategies to continually create growth–and manage the costs of creating that growth
∗ How to use the Internet to expand business–to–consumer or business–to–business relationships–without antagonizing existing channel partners
∗ How established, successful organizations can study and adopt the disruptive technologies of smaller, leaner competitors
∗ Proven techniques to transform intellect into performance and apply today′s most important resource–knowledge–in real–world business situations
"You plug away at discrete issues, always asking why is this the practice and why not something different?" –John F. Antioco, Chairman and CEO Blockbuster Inc. The time for a radically new business model, one that exploits emerging technologies and opportunities while drawing from lessons of the past, has arrived. Discover for yourself why Wisdom of the CEO is being hailed as an invaluable collection of the thoughts and opinions of today′s business trendsetters–and as a timely, thought–provoking model for next–millennium business success.
∗ Strategies to continually create growth–and manage the costs of creating that growth
∗ How to use the Internet to expand business–to–consumer or business–to–business relationships–without antagonizing existing channel partners
∗ How established, successful organizations can study and adopt the disruptive technologies of smaller, leaner competitors
∗ Proven techniques to transform intellect into performance and apply today′s most important resource–knowledge–in real–world business situations
"You plug away at discrete issues, always asking why is this the practice and why not something different?" –John F. Antioco, Chairman and CEO Blockbuster Inc. The time for a radically new business model, one that exploits emerging technologies and opportunities while drawing from lessons of the past, has arrived. Discover for yourself why Wisdom of the CEO is being hailed as an invaluable collection of the thoughts and opinions of today′s business trendsetters–and as a timely, thought–provoking model for next–millennium business success.
From the Back Cover
How Will Yahoo! Stay on Top in the Twenty–First Century? Sony? DuPont? Why Not Ask Their CEOs? Wisdom of the CEO introduces you to 29 visionaries who are actively changing today′s business paradigm. These top global business leaders explain how they are confronting the eight key issues driving business today–Globalization, Growth, Shareholder Value, Innovation, E–Business, Disruptive Technology, Organization, and Knowledge Management–and give you valuable guidance for maintaining and strengthening your own company′s market share. Listen to the voices of experience as they discuss hot–button issues including:
∗ The Internet–How will e–commerce change customer demands and expectations? K. Blake Darcy, CEO of online trading powerhouse DLJdirect, explains the new rules.
∗ Shareholder Value–Can a leader focus all of a company′s strategic efforts on shareholder value? Sir Brian Pitman explains how managers throughout the Lloyds organization–acting as value–creation strategists–are helping him to do just that.
∗ Disruptive Technology–Can established companies exploit disruptive technologies as effectively as their start–up competitors? CEO Roger G. Ackerman reveals how Corning can–and does.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is renowned for its commitment to helping world–class companies make better business decisions and hone their competitive strategies. With Wisdom of the CEO, Dauphinais, Means, and Price assemble an impressive, unprecedented gathering of today′s leading business minds to discuss the trends that are propelling global business into the twenty–first century–and how they are positioning their companies to take full advantage of those trends.
∗ The Internet–How will e–commerce change customer demands and expectations? K. Blake Darcy, CEO of online trading powerhouse DLJdirect, explains the new rules.
∗ Shareholder Value–Can a leader focus all of a company′s strategic efforts on shareholder value? Sir Brian Pitman explains how managers throughout the Lloyds organization–acting as value–creation strategists–are helping him to do just that.
∗ Disruptive Technology–Can established companies exploit disruptive technologies as effectively as their start–up competitors? CEO Roger G. Ackerman reveals how Corning can–and does.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is renowned for its commitment to helping world–class companies make better business decisions and hone their competitive strategies. With Wisdom of the CEO, Dauphinais, Means, and Price assemble an impressive, unprecedented gathering of today′s leading business minds to discuss the trends that are propelling global business into the twenty–first century–and how they are positioning their companies to take full advantage of those trends.
About the Author
G. William Dauphinais, based in New York, is a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner. He is coauthor with Colin Price of the bestselling Straight from the CEO. Grady Means is a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner based in Washington, D.C. Colin Price is a former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner based in London.
