Rumsfeld's Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life - Hardcover

Rumsfeld, Donald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062272853 ISBN 13: 9780062272850

Publisher: Broadside Books, 2013

Synopsis

For half a century, Donald Rumsfeld has been at the center of our country's history. As a Naval aviator, US Congressman, a top aide to four American presidents, an ambassador, and the only twice-serving Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld knows government from the inside out-how it works, how it doesn't and what it tells us about our country. Less well-known than his career in public service is Mr. Rumsfeld's two decades at the top of American business, as CEO of two Fortune 500 companies. With Rumsfeld's Rules, the man once named one of America's ten toughest CEOs by Fortune magazine offers current and future leaders practical advice on how to make their companies and employees more effective. Over his career as one of the nation's most recognized-and controversial-executives, Don Rumsfeld collected hundreds of pithy, compelling, and often-humorous observations about life and leadership. When President Gerald Ford ordered the list of management aphorisms distributed to his staff, the collection became known as Rumsfeld's Rules. In the decades since, these bi-partisan Rules have amused and enlightened presidents, foreign officials, diplomats, members of Congress, and business leaders. NPR has called them a Washington survival guide. Now, in the blunt and witty style that made his Pentagon press conferences must see TV during the George W. Bush administration, Rumsfeld selects some of his most important Rules and discusses them with fresh insights and anecdotes, in the context of having lived through 80 years of our nation's history. A book for aspiring politicos and industrialists, college graduates, teachers, and business leaders, Rumsfeld's Rules will provide new insight into how Rumsfeld thinks about leadership, management, and strategy, and show how that thinking helped him turn around ailing companies and lead the Pentagon in wartime. Rumsfeld provides tools to help hone readers' strategic thinking and rules to help them become better employees and leaders. Some examples include: On serving the boss: learn to say 'I don't know.' If used when appropriate, it will be often. On government, a lesson from Tony Blair: you begin when you're least capable and most popular, and you end when you're least popular and most capable. and, On serving the president: most advisors can tell a President how to improve what's been proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what is missing.

About this title

Review:

"A Brilliantly useful set of ideas, boiled down to their essence and presented in an easily accessible way, and with stories from experience to give them vibrant meaning." --George P. Shultz

From the Back Cover:

The legendary leadership guide, distilled from a lifetime of wisdom and experience in government and business

Throughout his long and distinguished career—as a naval aviator, a U.S. Congressman, a top aide to four American presidents, a high-level diplomat, a CEO of two Fortune 500 companies, and the only twice-serving Secretary of Defense in American history—Donald Rumsfeld has collected hundreds of pithy, compelling, and often humorous observations about leadership, business, and life. When President Gerald Ford ordered these aphorisms distributed to his White House staff in 1974, the collection became known as "Rumsfeld's Rules."

First gathered as three-by-five cards in a shoebox and then typed up and circulated informally over the years, these eminently nonpartisan rules have amused and enlightened presidents, business executives, chiefs of staff, foreign officials, diplomats, and members of Congress.  They earned praise from the Wall Street Journal as "Required reading," and from the New York Times which said: "Rumsfeld's Rules can be profitably read in any organization...The best reading, though, are his sprightly tips on inoculating oneself against that dread White House disease, the inflated ego."

Meanwhile, the collection continued to grow as Rumsfeld added new rules derived from things he read, heard, or observed in more than eight decades of a remarkable life. Now these legendary rules are made available for the first time to corporate executive. Rumsfeld has selected his most useful and important rules for effective leadership, enhanced with fresh insights and entertaining anecdotes, and discusses them in the blunt and witty style that made his Pentagon press conferences "must-see TV."

Distilled from a career of unusual breadth and accomplishment, and organized under practical topics like hiring people, running a meeting, and dealing with the press, Rumsfeld's Rules can benefit people at every stage in their careers and in every walk of life, from aspiring politicos and industrialists to recent college graduates, teachers, and business leaders.

The book provides unprecedented insight into leadership, management, strategy, and life—thinking that not only helped Rumsfeld lead the Pentagon in wartime, but earned him a reputation as one of America's toughest and most effective CEOs.

About this edition

• Publisher: Broadside Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0062272853
• ISBN 13: 9780062272850
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352