ISBN 0-446-53276-2 Published by Time Warner Book Group
The Feiner Points of Leadership (great pun by the author Michael Feiner) should be required reading for all potential MBA's. Now a Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Business, Mr. Feiner shares his personal experience as a hot-shot AND successful high end executive in major companies such as Pepsi.
With gentle humour and precise examples, this book guides us through 50 basic laws as developed by the author. Step by step, we are shown what works, and more importantly, what doesn't, and how to fix it. Mr. Feiner is not afraid to share his losses with us as well as his wins - for as he implies, you learn as much from your failures as you do your successes.
Don't be intimidated by the thought of 50 laws - it really isn't that cut and dried. The laws are divided into sections or groups. Mr. Feiner starts off with the definition of leadership and management, showing their difference. This is a critical concept often misused and misunderstood as Mr. Feiner explains. I fully agree, and his anecdotes fully support this valuable insight into the workings of high end Business Administration.
Nor does Mr. Feiner only believe in the "Team" spirit. The most beloved part for me in this book was a quick excerpt: we all know the slogan "There is no 'I' in the word Team" - this was said to Michael Jordan by an assistant coach. The slogan has been repeated ad naseum to point out that a Team must work together. But how many of you know Michael Jordan's response - this was quick and to the point: "There is in the word 'win'!" How often we forget that is precisely ALL the I's that make a Team successful - and it is the leader's job to find out what will motivate each member on the Team.
This book also has an excellent guideline for the subordinate working with a lousy boss - Mr. Feiner's tips and tricks (well, really laws) are well laid out and easy to follow. They may not change the situation, but they will help YOU deal with the problem.
The style is an easy pace to follow. The sections are well laid out and divided appropriately. I enjoy reading the anecdotes to give this a realism to the laws developed - they help explain what is meant to the layman. At the back Mr. Feiner has created a Laws Matrix for easy reference - his intention is for this to be a working guide, not just another book to read and file. He succeeds!
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