What the CEO Wants You to Know : How Your Company Really Works

145 Pages·2001·0.4 MB·English

by  Ram Charan

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WHAT THE CEO
WANTS YOU
TO KNOW
How Your Company Really Works
RAM CHARAN
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Praise for
WHAT THE CEO WANTS YOU TO KNOW
“What the CEO Wants You to Know is a book that
should be read by everyone—from the newest recruit to
the most seasoned senior manager. It won’t take you
more than a couple of hours but I believe that the pay-
back can be enormous. This is a little book filled with big
ideas and will have enormous benefit for your career as
well as for the future of your company.”
—Jac Nasser, CEO and President, Ford Motor Company
“I learned the universal laws of business in my youth
while working at my father’s shoe shop. During my
career at GE and AlliedSignal I led businesses in sixteen
different industries using extensively the ideas discussed
in this book. These ideas help simplify complexity and
provide a lifetime of value. What the CEO Wants You to
Know is a gem of a book.”
—Larry Bossidy, former Chairman and CEO, AlliedSignal
“This is a book that’s been needed for years. Ram
Charan shares the secret to finding your way in the
business world and making your career more meaning-
ful. Read this book over the weekend or on your next
plane trip and you will suddenly see your company and
your work in a new light.”
—Chad Holliday, Chairman and CEO, DuPont
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“Reading this book is like putting on a pair of glasses—
suddenly the guts of the business are crystal clear. What
the CEO Wants You to Know is easy to read and the
insights are truly energizing.”
—Dave Robino, Vice Chairman, Gateway Computer
“Finally, a book that shows how business really works.
This book captures precisely the kind of business think-
ing we try to cultivate. It’s a great way for leaders at any
level to develop their business sense.”
—Bob Nardelli, President and CEO, The Home Depot
“Business acumen—Ram Charan’s term for using the
universal laws of business—is the name of the game
today. In this book, Ram takes complex, intimidating
concepts and jargon, makes them understandable and
creates a set of fundamentals that can be applied to
business situations every day, everywhere.”
—Lois D. Juliber, COO, Colgate-Palmolive
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WHAT THE CEO
WANTS YOU
TO KNOW
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Also by Ram Charan
Boards at Work: How Corporate Boards Create
Competitive Advantage
Coauthored by Ram Charan
Every Business Is a Growth Business: How Your
Company Can Prosper Year After Year
E-Board Strategies: How to Survive and Win
The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership
Powered Company
Strategic Management: A Casebook in Business
Policy and Planning
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WHAT THE CEO
WANTS YOU
TO KNOW
How Your Company Really Works
RAM CHARAN
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Copyright © 2001 by Ram Charan
Social Operating Mechanismsm is a servicemark of Ram Charan.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publisher.
Published by Crown Business, New York, New York. Member of
the Crown Publishing Group.
Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney,
Auckland
www.randomhouse.com
Crown Business and colophon are trademarks of Random House,
Inc.
Design by Meryl Sussman Levavi/Digitex
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Charan, Ram.
What the CEO wants you to know : how your company really
works / by Ram Charan.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Executive ability. 2. Middle managers. 3. Success in
business. 4. Corporations—Growth. 5. Industrial management.
I. Title.
HD38.2.C427 2001 00-047403
658.4—dc21
eISBN 0-609-50423-1
v.1
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Dedicated to the hearts and souls of the joint family of
twelve siblings and cousins living under one roof for
fifty years, whose personal sacrifices made my formal
education possible.
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Acknowledgments
This book truly belongs to my siblings and cousins,
who practiced the universal laws of business without
benefit of formal education, and to the many shop-
keepers in villages in India and other countries, who
practice business acumen every day of their lives. The
real learning came from watching them, as well as from
observing some of the best CEOs in the world, to whom
I am deeply grateful. It was an incredible learning expe-
rience watching Jack Welch, CEO of GE, over a long
period of time cut through to the essence of twelve or
more businesses using the same laws of business, each
time arriving at different problems and coming up with
different answers. Other great CEOs and business lead-
ers have afforded me equal privilege of seeing their
minds at work. Those who helped me develop the
ideas in this book include Jac Nasser of Ford, Dick