Lasting Lessons from the Corner Office uncovers the secrets behind the
success of the great CEOs through their lives and personal stories. Why
did Ray Kroc's plan for McDonald's thrive when all the other burger
joints failed? How can we apply his lessons to Krispy Kreme? How did
Walt Disney's most dismal day as a young cartoonist radically change his
career direction? We learn about their biggest challenges and failures,
and how they successfully rode the waves of demographic and
technological change. When Estée Lauder was a child in Queens, New York,
the average American spent $8 a year on toiletries. How did she spot an
opportunity in high-priced cosmetics? Why did she pound on the doors of
Saks? How did Thomas Watson, Jr., decide to roll the dice and put all of
IBM's chips on computing, when his father thought it could be a losing
idea?
Lasting Lessons from the Corner Office not only fascinates with the
personal lives of these CEOs, it shows how we can transfer their ideas
today to the triumphs and struggles of Sony, Dell, Costco, Carnival
Cruises, Time Warner, and numerous other companies trying to figure out
how to stay on top, or climb back up. The featured CEOs in this book
were not candidates for sainthood. Many of them knew "God" only as a
prefix to "damm it." But they were devoted to their businesses, not just
to their egos, personal bank accounts, and yachts.
Extraordinarily fresh and deeply thoughtful, Todd G. Buchholz's Lasting
Lessons from the Corner Office is a truly enjoyable and fun--yet
serious and realistic--look at what we still have to learn and absorb
from these former CEOs.
