As a member of the boomer generation, we often heard in business that one’s career may be boosted, enhanced or damaged not just the “what” we knew but also by the “who” we interacted with.
That observation continues today, but this book looks at the workplace in a different perspective. The “who” today is not just the ones at the top of an organization, but the talent located throughout at certain key positions.
The discussions include the actions and track records of four executives author Claudio Fernandez-Araoz describes as the greatest business leaders of recent times.
These include:
- Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
- Vale’s Roger Agnelli
- Apple’s Steve Jobs
- Samsung’s Yun Jong-Yong
Two of these are American, one is Korean and one is Brazilian. Some are better known than others in the US, but they do share some common values and strategies of how they made their organizations better and more successful. Many of those insights are shared by the four CEOs – success comes from recruiting and retaining top talent and giving the HR team the resources needed to remain on top.
This author has a track record in executive search and understands the pressure and needs in hiring CEOs and senior executives. This book recaps a number of his observations on that career of interviewing, recruitment and selection. This book is easy to read and contains practical, valuable information.
The chapters are short (4 to 7 pages) and the entire book of about 200 pages in six parts are well connected.
The message is geared towards hiring managers and the series of essays explains how to pick the right person for a job. This also means it could help one looking for a position. It discusses the needs to have clear expectations for people when hired or promoted and the likely consequences many of us have seen when favoritism is shown.
The author discusses holding executives and hiring managers accountable for who they decide to promote or hire, which is not the norm in many businesses.
This book offers insightful but very understandable lessons on both the recruitment and ongoing review process for management selection decisions.
It also gives one pause on the subject of succession planning.
This is an excellent resource for family businesses all the way to Global 500 companies.
Highly Recommended
John J Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO John@Hoganhospitality.com
Office 480-436-0283 Cell 602-799-5375
Hotelier, Speaker, Educator, Author, Expert Witness
- Principal, HoganHospitality.com Workshops, Consulting, Expert Witness Services
- Co-Founder & CLO, HospitalityEducators.com, Resources in Customer Services, Training, Marketing and Sales, Profitability
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