Most books on management are written by management consultants, and they study successful companies after they've succeeded, so they only hear winning stories.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Reading a book about management isn't going to make you a good manager any more than a book about guitar will make you a good guitarist, but it can get you thinking about the most important concepts.
I would have never wanted to write another management book. There are so many of them, and everybody says the same thing about them, and they are all the same - they give the exact same advice. It's like a diet book; they all say eat less calories, exercise more, and every single book has the same conclusion.
I never learned management. I never went to business school. I'm an artist. I happened to have really clear ideas of what I thought my business should be.
When I interviewed Paul Bremer in his office, he had almost no books on his shelves. He had a couple of management books, like 'Leadership' by Rudolph Giuliani. I didn't take it as an encouraging sign.
There are companies with management and companies with money. You can always find money. Management is the key to success in any business.
The first myth of management is that it exists. The second myth of management is that success equals skill.
Many think of management as cutting deals and laying people off and hiring people and buying and selling companies. That's not management, that's deal making. Management is the opportunity to help people become better people. Practiced that way, it's a magnificent profession.
When I was a CEO, the books on management that I read weren't very much help after the first few months on the job. They were all designed to give you directions on how not to screw up your company.
No matter how well a person writes, a successful book is a team effort involving many, many people.
I find it fascinating that a lot of business books that do well are from people who've never made any money in business.