BOOK REVIEWS
endorsements of two such m o d e r n business icons is highly notable.
MUST READS
Volume 10
Business Tales
“Study the past if you would define the future.”- Confucius by Lyndell Halliday
Following this counsel of the ancient Chinese philosopher, this edition of Must Reads features two non-traditional business books, both of which consist of collections of real life business stories. The value of these books is that they offer practical lessons of business executives in action dealing with real issues. The two books are: How I Did it: Lessons from the Front Line of Business edited by Daniel McGinn (Harvard Business Review, 2014) and Business Adventures – Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street by John Brooks (Open Road Media, 2014). How I Did It: Lessons from the Front Lines of Business – Daniel McGinn (Editor) How I Did It is a compilation of 34 first person stories of CEO’s of leading American corporations who tell of real business challenges they encountered and how they dealt with them. Originally written as a series of articles for the Harvard Business Review, the stories have now been complied into a single 336 page book divided into six sections: Picking the Right People, Building the Right Culture, Telling the Right Story, Growing around the World, Doing Smart Deals and Finding a Strategy that Works. Each section consists of four to seven stories with unique lessons grouped under the respective general theme. The CEO’s represent a wide cross section of corporate America - including wellknown names such as Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, Bill Marriott of Marriott International, Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Eric Schmidt of Google. Other familiar companies represented include Xerox, HoneyWell, Office Depot, Encyclopaedia BusinessFocus Sept / Oct
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Britannica and IMAX. Even though the companies represented are large, the issues dealt with are typical of those faced by business executives at all sizes of companies such as hiring the right persons, dealing with declining sales, finding and executing the right strategy and negotiating deals. Each of the CEO’s writes about critical business issues they faced, their thought processes and deliberations, and how they ultimately made key decisions in order to resolve the pertinent issues. The stories are mostly written in a succinct and to the point manner and are all quick digestible reads. Moreover, the personal tone of the contributors adds tremendous value to this collection. Some of the executives speak very candidly, often talking openly about their trepidations, and admitting their mistakes, making them appear very human. How I Did It is a highly enjoyable and insightful book and is the closest most persons will ever get to having a personal armchair chat with a major CEO. Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street – John Brooks Originally published in 1969, Business Adventures was out of print for many years, until its republication earlier this year. Clearly, the business environment has evolved significantly since the original publication of this book. Yet Warren Buffett has referred to it as one of his favourite books, famously recommending it to Bill Gates, who in turn called it “the best business book I’ve ever read.” The
John Brooks (1920 to 1933) was a contributor to the New Y o r k e r magazine. The twelve c a s e s selected for this book are quite diverse – each with unique lessons. They cover many iconic American companies such as Ford Motors, Xerox and GE as well as other lesser known companies. Some articles also cover government policy such as income tax and the stock market. In each case, Brooks writes in vivid detail with rich prose and a dry wit that makes each tale as entertaining as it is instructive. Many of the tales are stories of failure, such as Ford’s disastrous roll out of the Edsel mid-range luxury car in 1958 and an insider trading scandal at a leading minerals company of the day – Texas Gulf Sulphur. Brooks does not pretend to have all the answers, but instead provides the reader with enough detail and perspectives to allow the reader to draw his/her own lessons. In a sense, John Brooks might best be described as an investigative business journalist. The relevance of the business tales in Business Adventures varies significantly and the reader will not find all of them applicable to modern business. But there are enough timeless lessons in the pages of this classic 464 page book to make it a valuable addition to the book shelves of anyone interested in business. ¤ About The Author: Lyndell A. Halliday BSc., DipFM, MBA Lyndell Halliday is a business executive who has served in a range of leadership roles across the Caribbean. He is currently employed as the General Manager of Automotive Art (St Lucia) Ltd. Mr Halliday is also a part time facilitator at the National Research and Development Foundation where he teaches Leadership and Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility for the Australia Institute of Business MBA and BBA programmes.