Not as good or authentic as his "From the Gut". This is a set of chapters of the words of wisdom of Welch, the former GE Chairman. There is nothing clearly wrong or silly here, but it all reads like a combination of HBR articles and/or graduation/halftime speeches. His record is out there, but it would be nice if he added some value. For example, at GE, his system depended on using the share price to motivate managers, but he says very little about how to manipulate share prices and manage relations with shareholders. For another example, it is less clear how this applies in particular businesses and industries or how this would apply to businesses with a strong professional service component - GE medical versus GE power generation versus GE capital?? He knows this stuff - it would be great if he drilled a bit deeper than the typical business coffee table book level.

This was a fantastic book. I love the way that Jack writes. You feel like you're sitting in the room with him and having a conversation with him. He's mentoring you through his book.

After completing an MBA, I feel like all business students should read this book. He hits so many good business concepts right on the head. However, it's not just a book for business leaders, as some of my favorite chapters were about how to manage your own career and enjoy your job.

He breaks the book down into:
The most important things (mission, values, candor)
Your company
Your competition
Your Career
Typing Up Loose Ends

It's a very easy read and I couldn't put it down. Even though it's over 300 pages long, it's definitely well worth the read!

i really enjoyed this...jack welch is definitely not a politically correct author, but i appreciated his candor and insight in to what makes a company great. i would do some things differently than he did, but I found him to be remarkably thoughtful in his processes; from hiring and firing, to creativity and innovation.
i think this book would be of particular value to executives in a corporate setting but many of his tenets will translate to (and challenge) smaller business owners as well.

The book can serve as an impeccable guide for any motivated business individual. There are so many great insights into what makes a certain company extremely successful, but also into how one should approach building personal career in such a company. There is something for any business-savy individual that’ll grab this book. It’s straight-forward and content-wealthy at the same time.

The Candor Effect:
1) Candor gets more people in the conversation, and when you get more people in the conversation, to state the obvious,, you get idea rich. By that, I mean any more ideas get surfaced, discussed, pulled apart, and improved. Instead of everyone shutting down, everyone opens up and learns.
2) Candor generates speed. When ideas are in everyone's face, they can be debated rapidly, expanded and enhanced, and acted upon.
3) Candor cuts costs - lots - although you'll never be able to put a precise number on it. Just think how it eliminates meaningless meetings and b.s. reports that confirm what everyone already knows. Think of how candor replaces fancy PowerPoint slides and mind-numbing presentations and boring off-site conclaves with real conversations, whether they're about company strategy, a new product introduction, or someone's performance.

Differentiation
One of the main misunderstandings about differentiation is that is only about people. That's to miss half of it. Differentiation is a way to manage people and businesses.
Basically, differentiation holds that a company has two parts, software and hardware. Software is simple - it's your people. If you are a large company, your hardware is the different businesses in your portfolio. If you are smaller, your hardware is your product lines.
Every company has strong businesses or product lines and weak ones and some in between. Differentiation requires managers to know which is which and to invest accordingly. To do that, of course, you have to have a clear-cut definition of "strong." At GE, "strong" meant a business was No. 1 or No. 2 in its market. If it wasn't, the managers had to fix it, sell it, or as a last resort, close it. Other companies have different frameworks for investment decisions. They put their money and time only into businesses or product lines that promise double-digit sales growth, for instance. Or they invest only in business or product lines with a 15 percent (or better) discounted rate of return (DCRR).

Now let's talk about the more controversial topic, differentiation among people. It's a process that requires managers to assess their employees and separate them into three categories in terms of performance: top 20 percent, middle 70, and bottom 10. Then - and this is key - it requires managers to act on that distinction. I emphasize the word "act" because all managers naturally differentiate in their heads. But very few make it real.
When people differentiation is real, the top 20 percent of the employees are showered with bonuses, stock options, praise, love, training, and a variety of rewards to their pocketbooks and souls. There can be no mistaking the stars at a company that differentiates. They are the best, and they are treated that way.
The middle 70 percent are managed differently. This group is enormously valuable to any company; you simply cannot function without their skills, energy, and commitment. After all, they are the majority of your employees. And that's the major challenge, and risk, in 20-70-10 - keeping the middle 70 engaged and motivated.
That's why so much of managing the middle 70 is about training, positive feedback, and thoughtful goal setting. If individuals in this group have particular promise, they should be moved around among businesses and functions to increase their experience and knowledge and to test their leadership skills. To be clear, managing the middle 70 is not about keeping people out of the bottom 10. It is not about saving poor performers. That would be a bad investment decision. Rather, differentiation is about managers looking at the middle 70, identifying people with potential to move up, and cultivating them. But everyone in the middle 70 needs to be motivated and made to feel as if they truly belong. You do not want to lose the vast majority of your middle 70 - you want to improve them.
As for the bottom 10 percent in differentiation, there is no sugar-coating this - they have to go. That's more easily said than done. It's awful to fire people, but if you have a candid organization with clear performance expectations and a performance evaluation process, then people in the bottom 10 percent generally know who they are. When you tell them, they usually leave before you ask them to. No one wants to be in an organization where they aren't wanted. One of the best things about differentiation is that people in the bottom 10 percent of organizations often go on to successful careers at companies and in pursuits where they truly belong and where they can excel.

Work-Out
These were two- or three-day events held at GE sites around the world, patterned after New England town meetings. Groups of thirty to a hundred employees would come together with an outside facilitator to discuss better ways of doing things and how to eliminate some of the bureaucracy and roadblocks that were hindering them. The boss would be present at the beginning of each session, laying out the rationale for the Work-Out. He or she would also commit to two things: to give an on-the-spot yes or no to 75 percent of the recommendations that came out of the session, and to resolve the remaining 25 percent within 30 days. The boss would then disappear until the end of the session, so as not to stifle open discussion, returning only at the end to make good on his or her promise.

What Leaders Do
1) Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence.
2) Leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it.
3) Leaders get into everyone's skin, exuding positive energy and optimism.
4) Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency, and credit.
5) Leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls.
6) Leaders probe and push with a curiosity that borders on skepticism, making sure their questions are answered with action.
7) Leaders inspire risk taking and learning by setting the example.
8) Leaders celebrate.

You have to evaluate - making sure the right people are in the right jobs, supporting and advancing those who are, and moving out those who are not.
You have to coach - guiding, critiquing, and helping people to improve their performance in every way.
You have to build self-confidence - pouring out encouragement, caring, and recognition. Self-confidence energizes, and it gives your people the courage to stretch, take risks, and achieve beyond their dreams. It is the fuel of winning teams.

Hiring Process Tips
Three Acid Tests
1) The first test is for integrity. People with integrity tell the truth, and they keep their word. They take responsibility for past actions, admit mistakes, and fix them. They know the laws of their country, industry, and company - both in letter and in spirit - and abide by them. They play to win the right way, by the rules. Does the person seem real? Does she openly admit mistakes? Does he talk about his life with equal measures of candor and discretion?
2) The second test is for intelligence. It means the candidate has a strong dose of intellectual curiosity, with a breadth of knowledge to work with or lead other smart people. Don't confuse education with intelligence.
3) The third ticket to the game is maturity. The individual can withstand the heat, handle stress and setbacks, and, alternatively, when those wonderful moments arise, enjoy success with equal parts of joy and humility. Mature people respect the emotions of others. They feel confident but are not arrogant. In fact, mature people usually have a sense of humor, especially about themselves.

The 4-E (and 1-P) Framework
1) The fist E is positive energy. We just talked about this characteristic in the chapter on leadership. It means the ability to go go go - to thrive on action and relish change. People with positive energy are generally extroverted and optimistic. They make conversation and friends easily. They start the day with enthusiasm and usually end it that way too, rarely seeming to tire in the middle. They don't complain about working hard; they love to work. They also love to play. People with positive energy just love life.
2) The second E is the ability to energize others. Positive energy is the ability to get other people revved up. People who energize can inspire their team to take on the impossible - and enjoy the hell out of doing it. In fact, people would arm wrestle for the chance to work with them. Now, energizing others is not just about giving Pattonesque speeches. It takes a deep knowledge of your business and strong persuasion skills to make a case that will galvanize others.
3) The third E is edge, the courage to make tough yes-or-no decisions. Look, the world is filled with gray. Anyone can look at an issue from every different angle. Some smart people can - and will - analyze those angles indefinitely. But effective people know when to stop assessing and make a tough call, even without total information. Little is worse than a manager at any level who can't cut bait, the type that always says, "Bring it back in a month and we'll take a good, hard look at it again," or that awful type that says yes to you, but then someone else comes into the room and changes his mind.
4) The fourth E is execute, the ability to get the job done. Maybe this fourth E seems obvious, but for a few years, there were just the first three Es. Thinking these traits were more than sufficient, we evaluated hundreds of people and labeled a slew of them "high-potentials," and moved many of them into managerial roles. In that period, I traveled to personnel review sessions in the field with GE's head of HR, Bill Conaty. At the review sessions, we would refer to a single page that had each manager's photo on it, along with his or her boss's performance review and three circles, one for each E. Each one of these Es would be colored in to represent how well the individual was doing. Then one Friday night after a weeklong trip to our midwestern businesses, Bill and I were flying back to headquarters, looking over page after page of high-potentials with three solidly colored-in circles. Bill turned to me. "You know, Jack, we're missing something," he said. "We have all these great people, but some of their results stink." What was missing was execution. It turns out you can have positive energy, energize everyone around you, make hard calls, and still not get over the finish line. Being able to execute is a special and distinct skill. It means a person knows how to put decisions into action and push them forward to completion, through resistance, chaos, or unexpected obstacles. People who can execute know that winning is about results.
5) If a candidate has the four Es, then you look for that final P - passion. By passion, I mean a heartfelt, deep, and authentic excitement about work. People with passion care - really care in their bones - about colleagues, employees, and friends winning. They love to learn and grow, and they get a huge kick when the people around them do the same. The funny thing about people with passion, though, is that they usually aren't excited just about work. They tend to be passionate about everything. They're sports trivia nuts or they're fanatical supporters of their alma mater or they're political junkies. Whatever - they just have juice for life in their veins.

Hiring for the Top
Sometimes you need to hire a senior-level leader, someone who is going to run a major division or an entire company. In that case, there are four more highly developed characteristics that really matter.
1) The first characteristic is authenticity. Why? It's simple. A person cannot make hard decisions, hold unpopular positions, or stand tall for what he believes unless he knows who he is and feels comfortable with that. I am talking about self-confidence and conviction. These traits make a leader bold and decisive, which is absolutely critical in times when you must act quickly. Just as important, authenticity makes leaders likable. Their "realness" comes across in the way they communicate and reach people on an emotional level. Their words move them; their message touches something inside.
2) The second characteristic is the ability to see around corners. Every leader has to have a vision and the ability to predict the future, but good leaders must have a special capacity to anticipate the radically unexpected. In business, the leaders in brutally competitive environments have a sixth sense for market changes, as well as moves by existing competitors and new entrants.
3) The third characteristic is a strong penchant to surround themselves with people better and smarter than they are. Every time we had a crisis at GE, I would quickly assemble a group of the smartest, gutsiest people I could find at any level from within the company and sometimes from without, and lean on them heavily for their knowledge and advice. I would make sure everyone in the room came at the problem from a different angle, and then i would have us all wallow in the information as we worked to solve the crisis. A good leader has the courage to put together a team of people who make him look like the dumbest person in the room! I know that sounds counterintuitive. You want your leader to be the smartest person in the room - but if he acts as if he is, he won't get half the pushback he must get to make the best decisions.
4) The fourth characteristic is heavy-duty resilience. Every leader makes mistakes, every leader stumbles and falls. The question with a senior-level leader is, does she learn fro her mistakes, regroup, and then get going again with renewed speed, conviction, and confidence?

To Manage People Well, Companies Should...
1) Elevate HR to a position of power and primacy in the organization, and make sure HR people have the special qualities to help managers build leaders and careers. In fact, the best HR types are pastors and parents in the same package.
2) Use a rigorous, nonbureaucratic evaluation system, monitored for integrity with the same intensity as Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance.
3) Create effective mechanisms - read: money, recognition, and training - to motivate and retain.
4) Face straight into charged relationships - with unions, stars, sliders, and disrupters.
5) Fight gravity, and instead of taking the middle 70 percent for granted, treat them like the heart and soul of the organization.
6) Design the org chart to be as flat as possible, with blindingly clear reporting relationships and responsibilities.

Initiating Change
1) Attach every change initiative to a clear purpose or goal. Change for change's sake is stupid and enervating.
2) Hire and promote only true believers and get-on-with-it types.
3) Ferret out and get rid of resisters, even if their performance is satisfactory.
4) Look at car wrecks.

Anatomy of a Crisis: Plan of Action
Assumption 1) The problem is worse than it appears.
Assumption 2) There are no secrets in the world, and everyone will eventually find out everything.
Assumption 3) You and your organization's handling of the crisis will be portrayed in the worst possible light.
Assumption 4) There will be changes in processes and people. Almost no crisis ends without blood on the floor.
Assumption 5) The organization will survive, ultimately stronger for what happened.

Business Strategy
1) Come up with a big aha for your business - a smart, realistic, relatively fast way to gain sustainable competitive advantage.
2) Put the right people in the right jobs to drive the big aha forward,
3) Relentlessly seek out the best practices to achieve your big aha, whether inside or out, adapt them, and continually improve them.

Making Strategy Real: 5 Slides
Slide 1: What the Playing Field Looks Like Now
-Who are the competitors in this business, large and small, new and old?
-Who has what share, globally and in each market? Where do we fit in?
-What are the characteristics of this business? Is it commodity or high value or somewhere in between? Is it long cycle or short? Where is it on the growth curve? What are the drivers of profitability?
-What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor? How good are their products? How much does each one spend on R&D? How big is each sales force? How performance-driven is each culture?
-Who are this business's main customers, and how do they buy?

Slide 2: What the Competition Has Been Up To
-What has each competitor done in the past year to change the playing field?
-Has anyone introduced game-changing new products, new technologies, or a new distribution channel?
-Are there any new entrants, and what have they been up to in the past year?

Slide 3: What You've Been Up To
-What have you done in the past year to change the competitive playing field?
-Have you bought a company, introduced a new product, stolen a competitor's key salesperson, or licensed a new technology from a startup?
-Have you lost any competitive advantages that you once had - a great salesperson, a special product, a proprietary technology?

Slide 4: What's Around the Corner?
-What scares you most in the year ahead - what one or two things could a competitor do to nail you?
-What new products or technologies could your competitors launch that might change the game?
-What M&A deals would knock you off your feet?

Slide 5: What's Your Winning Move?
-What can you do to change the playing field - is it an acquisition, a new product, globalization?
-What can you do to make customers stick to you more than ever before and more than to anyone else?

Budgeting: A Better Way
-How can we beat last year's performance?
-What is our competition doing, and how can we beat them?

Compensation for individuals and businesses is not linked to performance against budget. It is linked primarily to performance against the prior year and against the competition, and takes real strategic opportunities and obstacles into account.

New Venture Guidelines
1) Spend plenty up front, and put the best, hungriest, and most passionate people in leadership roles.
2) Make an exaggerated commotion about the potential and importance of the new venture.
3) Err on the side of freedom; get off the new venture's back.

M&A Pitfalls (7) p. 220-1

Getting Promoted
-Deliver sensational performance, far beyond expectations, and at every opportunity, expand your job beyond its official boundaries.
-Don't make your boss use political capital in order to champion you.
-Manage your relationships with your subordinates with the same carefulness that you manage the one with your boss.
-Get on the radar screen by being an early champion of your company's major projects or initiatives.
-Search out and relish the input of lots of mentors, realizing that mentors don't always look like mentors.
-Have a positive attitude and spread it around.
-Don't let setbacks break your stride.

Work-Life Balance
1) Your boss's top priority is competitiveness. Of course he wants you to be happy, but only inasmuch as it helps the company win. In fact, if he is doing his job right, he is making your job so exciting that your personal life becomes a less compelling draw.
2) Most bosses are perfectly willing to accommodate work-life balance challenges if you have earned it with performance.
3) Bosses know that the work-life policies in the company brochure are mainly for recruiting purposes, and the real work-life arrangements are negotiated one-on-one in the context of a supportive culture, not in the context of "But the company says...!"
4) People who publicly struggle with work-life balance problems or continually turn to the company for help get pigeonholed as ambivalent, entitled, uncommitted, or incompetent - or all of the above.
5) Even the most accommodating bosses believe that work-life balance is your problem to solve. In fact, most of them know that there are really just a handful of effective strategies to do that, and they wish you would use them.

Winning
By: Jack Welch
Copyright 2005
Reviewed November 2007.

Being that I was not fond of Mr Welch’s autobiography, I was not eager to get started in reading this book. Once I got started, however, the book was addictive and hard to put down. Mr. Welch really runs the gamut in this book hitting on all the facets of business and management, giving his very useful advice supported by many stories from his career at GE and other areas of his life.

Some of the highlights which I found most valuable were the chapters on candor and differentiation, both in the “Underneath It All” section where the focus was on personal actions. Most people do not practice candor when it comes to communicating negative news. This leads to inefficiencies in companies (translates to lost dollars) and within people who do not receive candid honest feedback. Without candor differentiation is difficult. Differentiation is the idea that people are not equal. Top performers (the top 20%) should be reworded and bottom performers (the bottom 10%) should be let go. Mr. Welch also focuses a lot on the 70% found in the middle. This group is enormously valuable, and a challenge faced by leaders is keeping this middle 70% challenged and motivated. This book clarifies Mr. Welch’s often criticized position on differentiation.

The “Your Company” and “Your Competition” sections gave some good insight for folks at the top of a company, weather they are owners or just top-level management. The “Your Career” section gave some bottom-line advice about one’s own choices made in life. In the chapter on work life balance Mr. Welch communicates his opinion that he sacrificed being a dedicated father and husband to reach the goals he obtained in business. This is something I do not believe I have ever seen revealed from any business leader, especially with Mr. Welch’s level of candor.

Warren E. Buffet made a quote that is stamped on the front cover of this book. “No other management book will ever be needed.” While that, in my mind, is certainly a poor statement due to the fact that this is the summarized thoughts of one person, I must admit this is an EXCELLENT book for a manager, or even a front line white-collar contributor. I highly recommend this book , and would certainly recommend this over Mr. Welch’s autobiography.

الكتاب صدر عن أحد أفضل الرؤساء التنفيذيين في القرن الماضي، يتطرّق فيه إلى عدّة مواضيع متعلّقة بقيادة منظّمة إلى النّجاح. أقود مع شركائي فريق عمل صغير نوعًا ما (25 شخص)، ووجدت الكتاب يلامس الكثير من التحدّيات والقضايا التي نواجهها بشكل يومي.الكتاب لا يكتفي بتناول مسائله بشكل تنفيذي واستراتيجي بل يدخل في تفاصيل مهمة.

أبرز ما جاء في الكتاب: تركيزه على وتكراره لفكرة أهمّية فريق العمل وطريقة اختياره وإدارته وتقييمه وترقيته.

ومن هنا أود مشاركتكم بعض ما جاء في هذا الباب
1. نظرًا لأهمّية القوى البشرية، فمن الضروري ارتباط مدير القوى البشرية مع الرئيس التنفيذي مباشرةً في الهيكل التنفيذي
2. دور القوى البشرية دور أبوي ونفساني: فعليهم ضبط الفريق واحتوائهم في نفس الوقت
3. راجع أداء الفريق بشكل دائم ومن دون توقّف
4. كافئ أفضل 20%، استثمر في متوسّطي الأداء، وتخلّص من أسوأ 10%. بل كقائد منظّمة، استثمر نصف وقتك لتطوير الفئة المتوسّطة.
5. عند مقابلة موظّفين محتملين ينبغي أن يكون أوّل فلتر هو: 1) النّضج، 2) والمصداقية، 3) والذّكاء. من أهم الأسئلة التي ستمكّنك من معرفة هذه الأمور الثّلاث: "لماذا تركتَ وظيفتك السّابقة؟"
6. بعد تعدّي الفلتر الأوّل ابحث عمّن: 1) لديه طاقة واضحة 2) أثبت أنّه يستطيع إمداد الآخرين بالطاقة والنشاط 3) لديه جودة عالية في التنفيذ 4) ينافس بشراسة 5) اهتمام وشغف صادق بالعمل
7. القيمة التي ينبغي لكل المؤسسات الناجحة تبنّيها: الصّراحة. هي أهم مما تتوقّع. والمجاملة بإمكانها أن تنخر مؤسستك أو فريقك
8. بسبب المراجعة الأداء المستمر، فعندما تفصل أحدًا ينبغي: أولاً) ألا يكون القرار مفاجئ لأنَّ لديهم دراية واضحة بأدائهم وثانيًا) القرار لا بُد أن يصل لصاحبه مع الحفاظ على كرامته
9. ثمانية صفات مهمّة للقائد: أولاً استخدم كل طريقة ووسيلة وفرصة لتطوير فريقك، لا يوجد شيء اسمه التطوير الزائد. ثانيًا: كرر رؤية الشّركة حتّى يعيشها الجميع. ثالثًا: كُن إيجابيًا وأشعل الجميع بطاقتك. رابعًا: ثبّت مصداقيّتك من خلال الصراحة والوضوح وأن تقول للمحسن أحسن، والمقصّر قصّرت. خامسًا: اتّخذ قرارتك مبكّرًا خصوصًا إن لم تعجب الجميع. سادسًا: اسئل كالطفل ولا تتوقّف حتّى تفهم. سابعًا: ألهم الفريق ليأخذوا مخاطرات مدروسة، وكن قدوة في ذلك. ثامنًا: احتفل في أوقات النجاح لن تتصوّروا أثر ذلك على فريقك

من دون مبالغة قد يكون هناك 100 درس يستحق الذّكر إذ يتحدّث عن التخطيط الاستراتيجي، والموازنة المالية، وإدارة التغيير، والتعامل مع التحديات، وموازنة الحياة مع العمل وغيرها الكثير

I started this book as I was developing the concept of what would become my recently launched business. Many of the the principles Jack discusses have already been put into action and others I'm looking forward to implementing. My biggest takeaways:

-My bosses cautioned me about my candor. Now that my GE career is over, I'm telling you that it was my candor that helped make it work. It just felt natural to speak openly, argue and debate, and get things to happen fast.

-What leaders do: -relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence -make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it -get into everyone's skin, exuding positive energy and optimism -establish trust with candor, transparency and credit -have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls -probe and push with a curiosity that borders on skepticism, making sure their questions are answered with action -inspire risk taking and learning by setting the example -celebrate

-Self-confidence energizes, and it gives your people the courage to stretch, take risks and achieve beyond their dreams; it is the fuel of winning teams.

-Effective people know when to stop assessing and make a tough call, even without total information. Little is worse than a manager who can't cut bait.

-Every leader makes mistakes, every leader stumbles and falls. The question with a senior-level leader is, does she learn from her mistakes, regroup, and then get going again with renewed speed, conviction and confidence? The name for this trait is resilience, and it is so important that a leader must have it going into a job because if she doesn't, a crisis time is too late to learn it.

-Any candidate you hire in a managerial role must have the first two Es, positive energy and the ability to energize. Edge and execution can be developed with experience and management training.

-If you've hired the right people, they will want to grow. They will be bursting with the desire to learn and do more. A company that manages people well helps make that happen.

-When it comes to strategy, ponder less and do more.

-Companies and their people - if they're not direct competitors, of course - love to share success stories. All you have to do is ask.

-Annual strategic planning: how can we beat last year's performance? what is our competition doing, and how can we beat them?

-If you want real work-life balance, find a company that accommodates it as part of its everyday business.

Polecam wszystkim początkującym adeptom sztuki zarządzania, są przeleciane w niej praktycznie wszystkie 'najgrubsze' tematy: Misja, zatrudnianie, etc. Bedzie dobre jako pierwsza ksiazka o zarzadzaniu w ogole.

CANDOR best describes Jack Welch. He is a practical guy and the book is written like a practical manual for leadership and business. It was full of names and people but for good reason. I definitely agree that this book will be helpful to many out there who are running small ventures, NGOs, organizations, businesses as well as golden for CEOs and corporate geeks in the business world. Totally practical guide to winning.

The book is peppered with nuggets of good advice - nothing profound but simple common sense based on Welch's long experience in the corporate world. Welch also gives plenty of evidence that his nickname Neutron Jack is well deserved because of leadership philosophy to get rid of people who are in the way of winning - he calls them by various names, such as resisters. The impression I got of Welch as a leader is that of a workaholic who expected the same from his team, such as working every Saturday, a decisive and autocratic manager, possibly smart but not by any means a visionary leader or one possessing a sharp business acumen.

...Shall be read along with The Lexus and The Olive Tree-Thomas Friedman.

"Despite all the flags on First Avenue, there are no nations any more. Only companies. lnternational companies. lt's where we are. lt's what we are" - Kuman-Kuman from scene of "The Interpreter"