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Boss Talk: Top CEOs Share the Ideas That Drive the World's Most Successful Companies
Timeless and effective business lessons from twenty-one top CEOs
Every business leader—from manager to entrepreneur—wants to know the ideas that motivate and inspire the world’s most successful CEOs. Boss Talk presents twenty-one CEOs who give expert advice on issues important to today’s businessperson. The topics
•Motivating Your Employees
•Managing Growth
•Building a Brand
•Learning from the New Economy
•Trendspotting
•Beating the Competition
•Leading a Successful Turnaround or Transition
Here’s what some bosses are talking
“You have to get rewarded in the soul and in the wallet. The money isn’t enough, but a plaque isn’t enough either.”
—Jack Welch, General Electric Co.
“Lead by example. If you do that as CEO, your style will filter down through your team.”
—John Chambers, Cisco Systems
“We do a lot of quantitative stuff. But coupled with that is having an employee staff and culture that is inherently interested in what we do.”
—Tom Freston, MTV Networks
“Surround yourself with people you trust. You can’t run a business over a certain size and sign off on everything.”
—Emily Woods, J.Crew
Every business leader—from manager to entrepreneur—wants to know the ideas that motivate and inspire the world’s most successful CEOs. Boss Talk presents twenty-one CEOs who give expert advice on issues important to today’s businessperson. The topics
•Motivating Your Employees
•Managing Growth
•Building a Brand
•Learning from the New Economy
•Trendspotting
•Beating the Competition
•Leading a Successful Turnaround or Transition
Here’s what some bosses are talking
“You have to get rewarded in the soul and in the wallet. The money isn’t enough, but a plaque isn’t enough either.”
—Jack Welch, General Electric Co.
“Lead by example. If you do that as CEO, your style will filter down through your team.”
—John Chambers, Cisco Systems
“We do a lot of quantitative stuff. But coupled with that is having an employee staff and culture that is inherently interested in what we do.”
—Tom Freston, MTV Networks
“Surround yourself with people you trust. You can’t run a business over a certain size and sign off on everything.”
—Emily Woods, J.Crew
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
17 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 17, 2018
Boss Talk was better than it had any right to be. Very tight and focused with some genuinely good advice.
Notes
(1) Focus on the basics of people and customers and service and innovation (6)
(2) We are how we spend our time (13)
(3) Goals are less important than knowing their not at a dead end (20)
(4) Personal note: funny how simply reading business literature is invigorating for the workplace
(5) Never do something to a competitor that you would have a problem if they did it to you. (32)
(6) The danger of a wish for harmony (43)
(7) It's better to move fast and make mistakes occasionally than to move too slowly (wow) (43)
(8) Be honest (43)
(9) No medium has ever replaced another (provocative!) (70)
(10) Just doing what your competitor does is probably your biggest opportunity to lose money (111)
Notes
(1) Focus on the basics of people and customers and service and innovation (6)
(2) We are how we spend our time (13)
(3) Goals are less important than knowing their not at a dead end (20)
(4) Personal note: funny how simply reading business literature is invigorating for the workplace
(5) Never do something to a competitor that you would have a problem if they did it to you. (32)
(6) The danger of a wish for harmony (43)
(7) It's better to move fast and make mistakes occasionally than to move too slowly (wow) (43)
(8) Be honest (43)
(9) No medium has ever replaced another (provocative!) (70)
(10) Just doing what your competitor does is probably your biggest opportunity to lose money (111)
December 18, 2022
Overall, great book to learn from the leading executives in the industry. But it was a bit superficial. I prefer when insights on these leaders’ personal lives, careers, challenges, and how they overcame them are shared.
April 9, 2024
I had this on my shelf since 2014, read it in 2024, a book containing selection of interviews by Wall Street Journal in the period of 1999-2001. Somehow it worked.
What's great about this book is the brevity and frankness of the interview excerpts. In the era of dot-com bust and shift to the New Age economy, the corporate big wigs had a lot to say. The interviews with executives range across industries like telecom, automotive, retail, healthcare and media. There are callbacks and cross-references between interviews which add to the structure of the book.
What's strange is how the interviews from more than 2 decades ago still have relevancy today. If you are a business nerd, you can spend a good afternoon reading through these interviews and not be disappointed.
What's great about this book is the brevity and frankness of the interview excerpts. In the era of dot-com bust and shift to the New Age economy, the corporate big wigs had a lot to say. The interviews with executives range across industries like telecom, automotive, retail, healthcare and media. There are callbacks and cross-references between interviews which add to the structure of the book.
What's strange is how the interviews from more than 2 decades ago still have relevancy today. If you are a business nerd, you can spend a good afternoon reading through these interviews and not be disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews