New Global Leaders International Bus: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business (Jossey-Bass Leadership Series) - Hardcover

Kets De Vries; Florent-Treacy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787946575 ISBN 13: 9780787946579

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 1999

Synopsis

Spend some time with three of today's most noted business pioneers and share their secrets for achieving international success. The New Global Leaders takes readers into the private worlds of Asea Brown Boveri's Percy Barnevik, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and British Petroleum titan David Simon to provide rare and candid profiles of how these charismatic leaders have redefined organizational growth and development in the latter 20th century. The authors were granted unprecedented access to these men and the results are as fascinating as they are informative. Readers are treated to personal interviews with these very powerful and very different personalities, each of whom provides a behind-the-scenes account of how he put his company on the global map. Sharing their philosophies, visions, and strategies, they exemplify leadership in an age of rapid and relentless change and provide new models of success for our post-industrial era.

About this title

Review

What does it take to run a global company during this age of international competition, technology and downsized work forces? In The New Global Leaders, Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries and Elizabeth Florent-Treacy provide some answers by examining the lives and work of three of Europe's most storied business leaders: Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group; Percy Barnevik, architect of the merger that created the ABB engineering conglomerate; and David Simon, who resurrected British Petroleum. The authors find that each of these leaders succeeds with charisma and a managing philosophy that centres on speed, openness and a disdain for bureaucracy. "As organisations go through a global "revolution," they require the leadership of a significantly different kind of CEO," write the authors. "Leaders at the helm of the corporations of the future will need the capacity to step out of their own comfort zone and adapt to other realities."

While the book is a bit obsequious at times, it's easy to read and understand. Common among all three executives is their simple and direct style. Simon, for example, is a zealot about meeting benchmarks. His slogan is "performance, reputation and team work." The book shines because it's three biographies and three business histories in one. Managers at companies of any size can benefit from the experiences of Branson, Barnevik and Simon. --Dan Ring, Amazon.com

Review

"Brilliant portraits of three exemplary global leaders with important lessons for all leaders." -Warren Bennis, professor, University of Southern California, and author, Organizing Genius

"A masterful work that gives us insights into the key issues, fears, and decisions of three global leaders. The analyses, case studies, and interviews by Kets de Vries and Florent-Treacy reveal more about these men than they might have realized." -Ron Bolger, chairman, Telecom Eireann

About this edition

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0787946575
• ISBN 13: 9780787946579
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224