Summary: Iacocca


Book Description

The must-read summary of Lee Iacocca and William Novak's book: "Iacocca: An Autobiography". This complete summary of the ideas from Lee Iacocca and William Novak's book "Iacocca" tells the story of Lee Iacocca and his career as a general manager for the world's biggest car companies. In their book, the authors reveal how Iacocca dealt with the massive challenges of the motor industry and how he took Chrysler and turned it around, leading it to $925 million profit in 1983. This summary also explains Iacocca's vision for the future: more investment in students who want to go into technology, investment in the national transport infrastructure and encouraging greener energy. Added-value of this summary: • Save time • Understand key concepts • Expand your business knowledge To learn more, read "Iacocca" and discover the secrets behind the success of this ground-breaking general manager.




Iacocca


Book Description

“Vintage Iacocca . . . He is fast-talking, blunt, boastful, and unabashedly patriotic. Lee Iacocca is also a genuine folk hero. . . . His career is breathtaking.”—Business Week He’s an American legend, a straight-shooting businessman who brought Chrysler back from the brink and in the process became a media celebrity, newsmaker, and a man many had urged to run for president. The son of Italian immigrants, Lee Iacocca rose spectacularly through the ranks of Ford Motor Company to become its president, only to be toppled eight years later in a power play that should have shattered him. But Lee Iacocca didn’t get mad, he got even. He led a battle for Chrysler’s survival that made his name a symbol of integrity, know-how, and guts for millions of Americans. In his classic hard-hitting style, he tells us how he changed the automobile industry in the 1960s by creating the phenomenal Mustang. He goes behind the scenes for a look at Henry Ford’s reign of intimidation and manipulation. He recounts the miraculous rebirth of Chrysler from near bankruptcy to repayment of its $1.2 billion government loan so early that Washington didn’t know how to cash the check.




Where Have All the Leaders Gone?


Book Description

In his trademark straight-talking style, legendary auto executive Lee Iacocca speaks his mind on the most pressing issues facing America today: the shortage of responsible leaders in the business world and in government; the nation's damaged relations with its longtime allies; the challenges presented by the emergence of China and India on the world's economic stage; the decline of the American car business; and the state of the American family. Iacocca shares the lessons he's learned from a lifetime of hard work and adventure, of spectacular successes and stunning defeats, of integrity and grace and good old-fashioned American optimism.




Behind the Wheel at Chrysler


Book Description

A Detroit Free Press reporter demythologizes Lee Iacocca's leadership of Chrysler, demonstrating how salesmanship and self-promotion invariably trumped innovation and investment. "Everyone who cares about american industry should read [this book]" (New York Times Book Review). Index.




Icons and Idiots


Book Description

When Bob Lutz retired from General Motors in 2010, after an unparalleled forty-seven-year career in the auto industry, he was one of the most respected leaders in American business. He had survived all kinds of managers over those decades: tough and timid, analytical and irrational, charismatic and antisocial, and some who seemed to shift frequently among all those traits. His experiences made him an expert on leadership, every bit as much as he was an expert on cars and trucks. Now Lutz is revealing the leaders-good, bad, and ugly-who made the strongest impression on him throughout his career. Icons and Idiots is a collection of shocking and often hilarious true stories and the lessons Lutz drew from them. From enduring the sadism of a Marine Corps drill instructor, to working with a washed-up alcoholic, to taking over the reins from a convicted felon, he reflects on the complexities of all-too-human leaders. No textbook or business school course can fully capture their idiosyncrasies, foibles and weaknesses - which can make or break companies in the real world. Lutz shows that we can learn just as much from the most stubborn, stupid, and corrupt leaders as we can from the inspiring geniuses. The result is a powerful and entertaining guide for any aspiring leader.




How Starbucks Saved My Life


Book Description

Now in paperback, the national bestselling riches-to-rags true story of an advertising executive who had it all, then lost it all—and was finally redeemed by his new job, and his twenty-eight-year-old boss, at Starbucks. In his fifties, Michael Gates Gill had it all: a mansion in the suburbs, a wife and loving children, a six-figure salary, and an Ivy League education. But in a few short years, he lost his job, got divorced, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. With no money or health insurance, he was forced to get a job at Starbucks. Having gone from power lunches to scrubbing toilets, from being served to serving, Michael was a true fish out of water. But fate brings an unexpected teacher into his life who opens his eyes to what living well really looks like. The two seem to have nothing in common: She is a young African American, the daughter of a drug addict; he is used to being the boss but reports to her now. For the first time in his life he experiences being a member of a minority trying hard to survive in a challenging new job. He learns the value of hard work and humility, as well as what it truly means to respect another person. Behind the scenes at one of America’s most intriguing businesses, an inspiring friendship is born, a family begins to heal, and, thanks to his unlikely mentor, Michael Gill at last experiences a sense of self-worth and happiness he has never known before. Watch a QuickTime trailer for this book.




Car Guys vs. Bean Counters


Book Description

A legend in the car industry reveals the philosophy that's starting to turn General Motors around. In 2001, General Motors hired Bob Lutz out of retirement with a mandate to save the company by making great cars again. He launched a war against penny pinching, office politics, turf wars, and risk avoidance. After declaring bankruptcy during the recession of 2008, GM is back on track thanks to its embrace of Lutz's philosophy. When Lutz got into the auto business in the early sixties, CEOs knew that if you captured the public's imagination with great cars, the money would follow. The car guys held sway, and GM dominated with bold, creative leadership and iconic brands like Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, GMC, and Chevrolet. But then GM's leadership began to put their faith in analysis, determined to eliminate the "waste" and "personality worship" of the bygone creative leaders. Management got too smart for its own good. With the bean counters firmly in charge, carmakers (and much of American industry) lost their single-minded focus on product excellence. Decline followed. Lutz's commonsense lessons (with a generous helping of fascinating anecdotes) will inspire readers at any company facing the bean counter analysis-paralysis menace.




American Icon


Book Description

A riveting, behind-the-scenes account of the near collapse of the Ford Motor Company, which in 2008 was close to bankruptcy, and CEO Alan Mulally's hard-fought effort and bold plan--including his decision not to take federal bailout money--to bring Ford back from the brink.




Go Like Hell


Book Description

By the early 1960s, the Ford Motor Company, built to bring automobile transportation to the masses, was falling behind. Young Henry Ford II, who had taken the reins of his grandfather's company with little business experience to speak of, knew he had to do something to shake things up. Baby boomers were taking to the road in droves, looking for speed not safety, style not comfort. Meanwhile, Enzo Ferrari, whose cars epitomized style, lorded it over the European racing scene. He crafted beautiful sports cars, "science fiction on wheels," but was also called "the Assassin" because so many drivers perished while racing them.Go Like Helltells the remarkable story of how Henry Ford II, with the help of a young visionary named Lee Iacocca and a former racing champion turned engineer, Carroll Shelby, concocted a scheme to reinvent the Ford company. They would enter the high-stakes world of European car racing, where an adventurous few threw safety and sanity to the wind. They would design, build, and race a car that could beat Ferrari at his own game at the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, something no American car had ever done.Go Like Helltransports readers to a risk-filled, glorious time in this brilliant portrait of a rivalry between two industrialists, the cars they built, and the "pilots" who would drive them to victory, or doom.




Questions that Sell


Book Description

If you ask the right questions, then you’ll get the sale every time. As a salesperson, your product knowledge is extensive but that's not enough. If you fail to ask the right questions - the ones that uncover a customer's real needs - you will never close the deal. Top sales effectiveness expert and author Paul Cherry reveals advanced questioning techniques that will help you sell your products or services based on value to the customer, rather than price, and increase your success rate as a result. In Questions That Sell, Cherry shares material on how to: Discover hidden customer needs and motivations Reinvigorate a stale relationship Soothe anxious buyers Accelerate the decision process Upsell and cross-sell so you no longer leave money on the table Use questions to qualify prospects (without insulting them) And much more Questions That Sell is packed with powerful examples, exercises, and hundreds of sample questions for a wide range of buyer interactions. Success is yours for the asking. Smart questioning will get you there.