The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws That Will Make People Want to Perform Better for You

by Michael Feiner

Presents an outline for managing business problems based on the author's experiences at PepsiCo and Columbia, in a guide that presents practical advice on what to do in the face of unexpected crises, corporate rivalries, and interpersonal challenges. 60,000 first printing.

Genres: Business, Leadership

304 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 2004

Reviews

[Lidija · Rating 5 out of 5]

50 stars? Best and most comprehensive book I have read on leadership. I wish I had had a copy when I started my career! Mr. Feiner debunks the myth that leadership consists of the "Great Man" (think Napoleon, Churchill, MLK), and instead focuses on the importance of managing relationships up, down and across the organization. You will find excellent, practical examples of how you can implement these laws in your life.

My favorite part was the sobering and humble observation that career achievement per se is a hollow journey and that ultimately the two career "scores" you need to focus on are WYHA and WYHB. WYHA or "what you have achieved" is something that will stay behind you once you leave the office; WYHB or "who you have become" will travel with you wherever you go.

Reads like a business book, but you can apply many of the concepts in your personal life. A classic.

[Satish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the great fortune of taking Mike Feiner’s classes at Columbia. A class that was oversubscribed every single time it was offered! This book is a great representation and closest you can come to receiving that wisdom without being that class (since Mike has moved on from Columbia). As Mike says, majority of the leadership books deal with the “What” of Leadership. This is all about the “How” of Leadership - some great stories to boot and make the point. I could easily put myself in those conversations and learn from Mike’s wisdom! A must read for every leader who can create followers building amazing “cathedrals”!

[Xtina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommendation from a friend. I can think of at least 3 times from the time I opened the first page of this book 6 months ago until now where I've been able to use something I learned from this book. There are elements of this that are outdated, but this has been the strongest leadership manual I've encountered so far.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well played... spins into an interesting and uplifting collection of stories. Well organized, and well-written. I enjoyed this motivational leadership text and recommend adding it to your library as well.

[Dmitry Paunin · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the book is decent overall, I found that it may not be particularly strong in offering practical, evidence-based guidance applicable to all types of management or leadership roles. It seems especially tailored to die-hard corporate professionals who thrive in traditional organizational structures — but what about everyone else? The book appears to have been written more from the perspective of an observer than that of a leader with genuine skin in the game. This impression is reinforced by the many secondhand examples cited throughout. That said, I could be mistaken — the author does repeatedly emphasize his significant experience and achievements within the company, which suggests he held a prominent leadership position.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free after hearing the author speak at a company presentation.

A standard business advice book with some decent, albeit obvious, advice. Easy to read and apply the advice to real life situations. It’s a bit out dated, so many corporate examples referenced are not easily recalled (if I’ve ever heard of them before) and the book doesn’t give any reminders of what some of these incident examples are.

[Caleb M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 ⭐ (didn't like it)

I kept trying to push through. I kept trying to do it certainly there was something that wasn't obvious or has already learned that was just said in a different way. But no. This book was really not that good.

Feiner, who worked at Pepsi, showed me why Pepsi was never better than Coke 😂 his leadership must have just been sub par.

I don't know, I guess that's harsh but I was excited for this book and then pretty disappointed.

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

He clearly has the experience and skill to write a book on this subject. Most of his examples are based on his own career, primarily at Pepsi, and they are interesting and useful. But his tone is stinted - authoritative, yet in a formulaic manner that I'm sure he didn't actually follow himself. The book is worth reading because of what it imparts - useful information about career (which I might add extends beyond the motivation of others as suggested by the subtitle). I doubt it's as easy as following his cross-situation matrix of his cutely-named laws at the end of the book. I just read it again, planning a final perusal before passing it on. But the stories do resonate. Despite my negative reaction to the naming of his laws, they impart advice I haven't seen elsewhere. And so it will stay on my shelf of well-regarded business books.

[Farah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. I got the recommendation through a co-worker that was going to school at the time and had to read this in their management class. I got it and skimmed it and then started a book club at work for my managers to help introduce them to perspectives to take into consideration when in management and/or dealing with management. It was well received and made for some very interesting discussions!

[Janna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be very interesting, as an approach considering the hybrid between the principles of management and those of leadership. As these topics are concentrations within my MBA curriculum, I was very engaged for this book and read the whole book on one leg of a flight. One of the best things about the book was its ability to provide a solid understanding of each term independently, as often the two are intertwined or used interchangeably.

[Natalia Avdeeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great examples on how to lead by building effective relationships with peers, subordinates and managers. I found the chapters on conflict resolution and change management quite insightful.

Mostly based on the author's experience at Pepsi and probably more useful for those working for big corporations... And yet many themes are relevant for any workplace.

[Cristobal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite class in my MBA and I couldn’t be happier that Prof Feiner was kind enough to write this book which distills his years of experience coaching high performance leaders. A must read for any manager looking to strengthen their people skills.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book about leadership applied not just to leading subordinates, but also to leading bosses, teams, peers etc.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in Norwegian "Prestasjonsledelse". Unsure if I would even have bought the book with this English title! Very American, but some good points nonetheless.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for work. Typically I don't enjoy this type of book but this was actually pretty interesting!

[Sdfsd · Rating 4 out of 5]

i want to read this book,