Read Book Review

The Outsider by William N. Thorndike is all set to be released this October. This is an extremely inspiring book about a galaxy of those Chief Executive Officers who chose not to tread the same path which average CEOs follow.

The CEOs he talks about renounced the formulaic pattern of success, that projecting a larger-than-life image of a hard-boiled manager having tremendous expertise in his field with the help of self-aggrandizement through self-advertisement involving carefully built-up charismatic, state-of-the-art and Wall-Street mastering persona.

Thorndike points out that success as a CEO does not necessary come this way only by giving poignant instances of Welch and others like him under whose leadership their companies did 20 times better than the S&P 500. The world might not know Henry Singleton, Bill Anders, Tom Murphy, etc by name, but it does know what General Cinema, Ralston Purina, The Washington Post, Berkshire Hathaway and other companies which mark their achievements. This book tells you exactly about what is the secret of their exceptional success.

The most prominent of the characteristics they have in common is their humble and unpretentious nature. And they lack the aura of lavishness and sumptuousness about them. They show thrift which is not an outcome of their miserliness but rather their mature view and way of life. They persistently focus on per share value instead of counting profit, show acute insight in the way they move human and capital resources at their disposal, and give full freedom to the entrepreneurial potential of their managers. The fact that some of the information appearing in The Outsiders the world will be knowing for the first time, thanks to Thorndike's extensive research work. Find out what it is if you are one of those seeking to draw some lessons for themselves in order to score success as manager.