The sub-title of this book is "The Search for America's Best Business Leaders.% That's misleading, but it kind of makes sense, given the folks who put the book together. The authors are principles of Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm. They should be in a pretty good position to identify top business leaders and to study some of the factors that make them successful. They do, in fact, identify fifty of the best business leaders in America today.
It would make more sense if the subtitle were something like "Interviews with Fifty of America's Top Business Leaders." That would be much more like truth in advertising.
It would deal with the problem of identifying these folks as THE best business leaders. These are fifty folks who were viewed as top business leaders at the time the book was written.
As the authors say, that list is fluid and no single search could probably uncover all of the top business leaders. The folks listed here are leaders who've been covered by the business press. You won't find top leaders from smaller companies, or even leaders from big companies that haven't gotten much press coverage.
The list is also fixed in time. Kenneth Lay, of Enron, gets a chapter here, but he probably wouldn't today. What we're looking at here is opinion, not fact. It's supported by judgment, not by research. And it's constrained by time. But the book is worth reading nonetheless.
This book gives you an interview with each of fifty very successful business leaders. Each leader talks about where they work and what they do and what matters to them. That's what this book is really about and why it's valuable.
What you've got here is fifty selections of wisdom and insight from people who are successful in business. They are articulate and insightful people. The represent a broad range of personal styles and backgrounds.
In my view, all of the survey stuff that surrounds the interviews is just there to flesh out the book and make it look scientific. Don't read this book all the way through. Dip into it and read a couple of interviews at a time and compare them. Mark passages that are insightful or inspiring for you and go back to them.
You can also use this book to help evaluate the companies these folks run. Their values certainly have an impact there and you can get an idea of what the companies are about from what you find out about their CEOs.
It's a book worth reading, but not for the reasons stated on the book's cover.
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Created/Revised/Reviewed: 24 August 2002
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