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Thirty-nine of America's most successful business leaders share the most important decisions of their careers—and the life and career lessons they hold for us all.
When former CEO Harlan Steinbaum decided to buy back his retail drug chain with his partners, his life changed dramatically. The personal impact that this one business decision—this "tough call"—had on Steinbaum made him wonder if others had experienced similar kinds of defining moments in their own careers. To find out, he reached out to some of the most successful people in the country—leaders from companies such as Verizon, Chrysler, ESPN, Ogilvy & Mather, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, WellPoint, and Panera Bread Company—to pinpoint the career-defining decisions that were integral to their success. The result is Tough Calls from the Corner Office, a treasure trove of rich business wisdom, stories of tough decisions and hard-won victories, and lessons from a lifetime of achievement in the world of business.
Tough Calls from the Corner Office offers inspiring stories, lessons, principles, strategies, ideas, and solutions drawn from every stage in a successful career, from early key choices to the final leave-taking from the world of work. Given unprecedented access to such visionaries as Union Square Hospitality Group's Danny Meyer, ESPN's Bill Rasmussen, Build-A-Bear's Maxine Clark, and Let's Make a Deal's Monty Hall, Steinbaum shares their experiences, told in their own words, so that others may learn from them. In a time when many people are at professional crossroads, Tough Calls from the Corner Office offers inspiration and the confidence to believe that tough decisions can be the first step to extraordinary success.
A former pharmacy CEO asks 39 successful business executives to reflect on their careers and recall the defining moment of their careers.
With the exceptions of famed restaurateur Danny Meyer, ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen and game-show host/creator Monty Hall, most of those interviewed here are little known outside business circles. The other participants in Steinbaum's exercise are all decidedly less glamorous, but all have achieved wealth or eminence directing major enterprises, selling everything from bread to airplanes, vitamins, shoes, dolls, newspapers, commercial furniture, real estate, cars, chemicals and candy. They have run insurance companies, health programs, advertising outfits and architectural firms. All appear delighted to assess their business lives. Steinbaum offers a brief, folksy introduction to each of his interviewees and, then, permits them to speak in their own words. He divides the answers into chapters that correspond roughly to predictable passages in many business lives: the initial choice to enter a particular field, become an entrepreneur, find the right partners and abandon the wrong ones, reshape the corporate culture, change a company's business model, reposition or renew a business and, finally, decide when to leave. Unsurprisingly, the answers are as varied as the individuals and the specific challenges they've confronted. For this reason, apart from an appendix, in which Steinbaum assembles some words of advice and wisdom also gleaned from his subjects, nothing here can be read strictly as a success manual. In fact, many of Steinbaum's respondents readily acknowledge the degree to which luck, accident or emergency shaped their choices. One person's decision to stay and transform a business is not inherently smarter than another's call to strike out on her own. One maxim cautions a man to look before leaping, while another warns that he who hesitates is lost. Which to follow? Well, these judgments are labeled "tough calls" for a reason. Other companies represented include Monsanto, Verizon, Time Inc., Enterprise Rent-A-Car, United Airlines and Chrysler Corporation (both represented by one executive, Gerald Greenwald).
Comfort food for business enthusiasts.
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 The Road Taken: Making Key Career Choices 9
Danny Meyer, Union Square Hospitality Group 13
Angela F. Braly, WellPoint, Inc. 17
James H. Speed Jr., North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company 21
Joseph Plumeri, Willis Group Holdings Ltd. 25
Clarence C. Barksdale, Centerre Bancorporation 28
Gerald Greenwald, United Airlines, Chrysler Corporation 32
Chapter 2 Leaving the Mother Ship: Taking the Entrepreneurial Leap 39
Bill Rasmussen, ESPN 43
David L. Steward, World Wide Technology 50
Maxine Clark, Build-A-Bear Workshop 56
Leo R. Jalenak Jr., Cleo Inc 61
Chapter 3 Love and Marriage: Finding or Shedding Business Partners 67
Michael Staenberg, THF Realty Corporation 72
Gyo Obata, Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum (HOK) 77
Jack C. Taylor, Enterprise Rent-A-Car 82
Chapter 4 Betting the Farm: Risking Success for More Success 89
Monty Hall, Let's Make a Deal 92
Frank Jacobs, Jacobs International, Falcon Products 98
Jerry Finger, Finger Interests Ltd., Charter Bancshares 103
John D. Graham, Fleishman-Hillard, Inc. 108
Lee Liberman, Laclede Gas Company 113
Chapter 5 Hearts and Minds: Creating a New Corporate Culture 117
Sanford N. McDonnell, McDonnell Douglas Corporation 121
Benjamin F. Edwards, A. G. Edwards 126
David Farrell, May Department Stores Company 132
Reginald Brack, Time Inc. 137
William C. Swaney, Perrigo Company 141
Chapter 6 The Mother of Invention: Transforming the Company's Business Model 145
Shelly Lazarus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide 149
Lester Sherman, Wohl Shoe Company 152
Albert E. Suter, Emerson Electric Company, Whirlpool Corporation, Firestone Corporation 155
John F. McDonnell, McDonnell Douglas Corporation 161
James Nixon, Whitman's Chocolate Company 166
Lloyd Schermer, Lee Enterprises 170
Chapter 7 Sea Change: Repositioning, Refocusing, and Renewing a Business 175
Richard Mahoney, Monsanto Company 178
Les Loewe, Angelica Corporation 183
Ronald M. Shaich, Panera Bread Company 186
Frederic V. Salerno, Verizon, New York Telephone Company 191
Hans Sternberg, Starmount Life Insurance Company 196
Susan S. Elliott, Systems Service Enterprises, Inc. (SSE) 199
Chapter 8 When to Fold 'Em: Knowing When It's Time to Step Aside 207
George Herbert Walker III, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, U.S. Ambassador to Hungary 210
Barney Ebsworth, INTRAV, Royal Cruise Line, Clipper Cruise Line 217
Chapter 9 Paths to Service: Defining Moments That Transcend Business 223
General John W. Handy, U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) 224
Tadataka (Tachi) Yamada, Global Health Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 228
Conclusion 235
Acknowledgments 245
Appendix: Executive Advice and Wisdom 247
Anonymous
Posted March 9, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
When former CEO Harlan Steinbaum decided to buy back his retail drug chain with his partners, his life changed dramatically. The personal impact that this one business decision—this "tough call"—had on Steinbaum made him wonder if others had experienced similar kinds of defining moments in their own careers. To find...