How to Run a Company: Lessons from Top Leaders of the Ceo Academy

LESSONS FOR EVERYONE IN BUSINESS FROM AN ALL-STAR TEAM

Every six months Dennis C. Carey and Marie-Caroline von Weichs run the CEO Academy, an immersion course for newly appointed CEOs of the world’s leading companies—what Business Week called a “boot camp” for the next class of top executives. Those attending get a priceless range of unvarnished advice and invaluable lessons from an all-star team of veteran CEOs about how to get the results they were hired to achieve.

What participants pay $10,000 to hear is now contained in this book, the insights and secrets of some of the most influential business leaders of our time. Here is advice from high-caliber businesspeople such as Larry Bossidy, the recently retired CEO of Honeywell International; Ray Gilmartin, the CEO of Merck; John Smale, the former chairman of General Motors and retired chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble; and John Dasburg, who has run Northwest Airlines, Burger King, and now DHL Airways.

Successful CEOs aren’t the only attraction. How to Run a Company also presents America’s leading business observers and watchdogs: Nell Minow, the shareholder rights activist; Ira Millstein, the legendary attorney and power broker; Matthew Bishop, business editor of The Economist; and Joseph Badaracco, Harvard Business School’s top professor of ethics.

The combined team offers original and revealing observations on how business leaders at the top of the corporate world tackle pressing challenges, such as:

• How an industrial goliath like DuPont dramatically shifted its business focus

• How The Home Depot changed from fast-growing, free-wheeling adolescence to the management discipline that will help it mature and continue to expand

• What Michael Armstrong, who oversaw the transformation of Hughes Electronics and AT&T, advises to companies whose core business begins to disappear

• How the CEO of Tyco moved quickly during his first 100 days to build a new senior management team and began to restore trust in a company battered by scandal and bad publicity

• The role of the board of directors and how corporate governance should be reformed

• What strategies Jack Welch’s investor relations team at GE used to constantly probe who was buying the stock, who wasn’t, and why

How to Run a Company is not just for CEOs, but anyone interested in the critical make-or-break factors in today’s ever-challenging business environment. As the demands and expectations in business become ever greater and the competition tougher, here in one volume is the accumulated wisdom and experience of people who have been in the trenches during a remarkable time. How to Run a Company is the success manual for the twenty-first century.

From the Hardcover edition.

An all-star team of successful CEOs and other top business professionals offers invaluable insights on attaining operating excellence and restoring faith in the corporate system.

Valuable insights, practical strategies, and indispensable business advice from such successful CEOs and business professionals--including Larry Bossidy, Jeffrey Immelt, and Nell Minow--highlight a guide to effective business management and how to attain operating excellence and profitability while restoring faith in the corporate system. 50,000 first printing.

<P>Every six months Dennis C. Carey and Marie-Caroline von Weichs run the CEO Academy, an immersion course for newly appointed CEOs of the world's leading companies — what <I>Business Week</I> called a "boot camp" for the next class of top executives. Those attending get a priceless range of unvarnished advice and invaluable lessons from an all-star team of veteran CEOs about how to get the results they were hired to achieve.</P> <P>What participants pay $10,000 to hear is now contained in this book: the insights and secrets of some of the most influential business leaders of our time. Here is advice from high-caliber businesspeople such as Larry Bossidy, the recently retired CEO of Honeywell International; Ray Gilmartin, the CEO of Merck; John Smale, the former chairman of General Motors and retired chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble; and John Dasburg, who has run Northwest Airlines, Burger King, and now DHL Airways.</P> <P>Successful CEOs aren't the only attraction. <I>How to Run a Company</I> also presents America's leading business observers and watchdogs: Nell Minow, the shareholder rights activist; Ira Millstein, the legendary attorney and power broker; Matthew Bishop, business editor of <I>The Economist</I>; and Joseph Badaracco, Harvard Business School's top professor of ethics.</P> <P>The combined team offers original and revealing observations on how business leaders at the top of the corporate world tackle pressing challenges, such as:</P><UL><LI>How an industrial goliath like DuPont dramatically shifted its business focus</LI><LI>How The Home Depot changed from fast-growing, free-wheeling adolescence to the management discipline that will help it mature and continue to expand</LI><LI>What Michael Armstrong, who oversaw the transformation of Hughes Electronics and AT&amp;T, advises to companies whose core business b

DENNIS C. CAREY is vice chairman of Spencer Stuart, U.S., and has recruited CEOs and directors for some of the largest global companies. He is the founder of G100 and the CEO Academy, and the coauthor of CEO Succession and The Human Side of M&A.

MARIE-CAROLINE VON WEICHS is CEO of G100 and dean of the CEO Academy.

The dilemma of the CEO: uncertainty amidst insecurity / Dennis C. Carey and Marie-Caroline von Weichs — Assessing a company as an outsider coming in / Raymond V. Gilmartin, chairman and CEO of Merck & Co. — Strategic shifts at a turnaround company / John Dasburg, chairman and former CEO of Burger King and Northwest Airlines — Clarifying strategy through mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures / William S. Stavropoulos, chairman and former CEO of The Dow Chemical Company — Dealing with market reality: what should a leader do when markets disappear? / C. Michael Armstrong, chairman of Comcast Corporation and former chairman and CEO of AT & T and Hughes Electronics — Emerging from turmoil at Tyco: a new CEO prepares for his second hundred days / Dennis C. Carey, vice chairman of Spencer Stuart, US — The board as the boss: the relationship between the CEO and the board / John G. Smale, former chairman of General Motors and retired chairman and CEO of Procter and Gamble — The working relationship between a CEO and his directors / Kevin Sharer, chairman and CEO of Amgen — The board as consultants / Stephen P. Kaufman, retired chairman and CEO of Arrow Electronics — Keeping management in check / Nell Minow, editor of The Corporate Library — Reforming the corporate-governance process / Ira M. Millstein, senior partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges — A CEO looks at the director's role / Harvey Golub, former chairman and CEO of American Express — When a company has to grow up / Robert L. Nardelli, chairman, president, and CEO of The Home Depot — Streamlining the overmanaged company / John Krol, retired chairman and CEO of E.I. duPont de Nemours — How a CEO measures success / Josh Weston, former chairman & CEO of Automatic Data Processing — Leading by communicating / Lawrence A. Weinbach, chairman and CEO of Unysis — Learning from failure: when execution trumps strategy / David Fuente, former chairman and CEO of Office Depot — The view from the street / Robert Hurst, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Group — Building confident investors / Mark Begor, president and CEO of GE Consumor Finance-Americas and former head of Investor Communications at General Electric — Controlling the message / Christoph J. Walther, founding partner and CEO of CNC [Communications and Network Consulting] AG and former senior vice president and head of Global Communications at DaimlerChrysler — Getting fair news coverage / Matthew Bishop, business editor of The Economist — Right versus right: dealing with ethical dilemmas in business / Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr., John Shad Professor of Business Ethics, Harvard Business School.