Mind Your Own Business - Hardcover

Harman, Sidney

 
9780385509596: Mind Your Own Business
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0385509596 ISBN 13: 9780385509596
Verlag: Crown Pub, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

The unconventional CEO of Harman International Industries details hiw employee-centric, bottom-up approach to business success, sharing his thoughtful vision of leadership, personal responsibility, integrity, vitality, and values in business.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

<p><b>SIDNEY HARMAN, PH.D., </b> is the executive chairman of Harman International Industries. He served as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce from 1977 to 1978, founded the Program on Technology, Public Policy, and Human Development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and is currently the chairman of the Program Committee of the Board of Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. He lives in Washington, D.C.</p>

Sidney Harman is the executive chairman of Harman International Industries.

Aus dem Klappentext

<p><b>“The maverick’s way of conducting business forswears the leader as commanding general; it rejects the practice of top-down, authoritative command. Rather, it proposes the leader as catalyst, conscience, and inspirer . . . The true leader sees his job as setting an environment in which new ideas can emerge that neither he nor any other individual anticipated. That leap of imagination, that moment of genuine creativity, can only be inspired by a leader who encourages exploration and shows a willingness to consider a totally new approach.” --from <i>Mind Your Own Business<br></i></b><br>The corporate misdeeds of self-serving executives during the high-octane economy of the 1990s have forced many people to rethink the qualities that make a strong leader. For sixty years, Sidney Harman, the chairman and CEO of the world’s premier manufacturer of high-end audio equipment, has stood apart from the crowd, building his business the old-fashioned way, by satisfying customers and, in doing so, making a healthy profit. His refreshingly employee-centric, bottoms-up approach to business is the secret of Harman International’s continuing success. <br><br>In <i>Mind Your Own Business</i>, Harman shares his visionary ideas about leadership, providing a welcome contrast to the bad behavior of business leaders recently dominating the news. Harman focuses on creating a culture of personal responsibility throughout his company. He likens his top management team to a jazz quartet that listens to and improvises with one another to create harmony. He stresses the need to do more for workers at every level because employees are the company’s most valuable asset. At Harman International, he has established in-house classrooms to teach English, basic math, health, and music, and encourages his employees to pursue their potential. <br><br>Now a hale and healthy eighty-five, Harman thinks that “an idea a day” is more important than the proverbial apple and that the key to a long life is a restless curiosity. In the bestselling tradition of Max DePree’s <i>Leadership Is an Art</i>, <i>Mind Your Own Business </i>is a frank, no-nonsense guide for those who want to bring strength, vitality, and values to their businesses—and to their lives.</p>

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CHAPTER 1

Searching for Solid Ground


The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.

The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise to the occasion.

As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew.

-Abraham Lincoln

The Stormy Present

The revelations of corporate misbehavior and financial mischief we've seen recently, and the resulting fervor for reform, should surprise no one.

For decades American business had been in thrall to a pattern of management and development I call, with a nod to Michael Lewis,1 "The Old Old Thing." It was the old school of business, conducted by top-down, authoritative chieftains who were for the most part honest, hardworking, frequently unimaginative but diligent leaders. Its characteristics were long hours, specialists as department managers, and profit as the key to success. It was an American ethnocentric world. Global thinking was rare. Other markets were thought of as export opportunities. Technology played a modest role. It was a simpler world, a more realistic world, unadorned by financial magic. One never read of "proforma profits" offered as a distraction from disappointing real numbers. Cash flow was king. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was buried in footnotes, if it appeared at all. Earnings after interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization were what counted. Debt was scorned. The cash register was an icon.

There were significant exceptions: the crazy days of takeover artists and leveraged buyouts, the rash of wild conglomerates. But for the most part, the old verities held.

Then came the cyclone of cyberspace and dot-com madness-a furious breakaway from the old framework. Business was going global, the old notion of export was disappearing, technology was king, and a new breed of high-flying, very young, jet-setting, gold rush, high-tech gunslingers emerged. The so-called New Economy. The laptop, the cellular telephone, and access were the new icons. Pizza hours became the proxy for old-fashioned hard work, lavish spending the replacement for prudence and savings. The emphasis was on gratification in the present and earnings in the very distant future. The Young Turks were driven by the opium of technology. Globalization was just a first step on the way to the whole universe. With no real grounding, no personal ethic, no moral compass for guidance, New Economy leaders found it all heady stuff.

Of course, there were a substantial number of creative, imaginative, and solidly grounded companies, but the era was surely not dominated by practitioners of the stodgy tried-and-true way.

Many experienced business leaders were confused, challenged, and threatened by the new breed. Fearful that they would be left behind, striving to catch up, to find footing in the larger world and in the presence of the flashy new technology, some jumped ship for new opportunities with dot-com dazzlers; others abandoned the practices that had served business so well for so long. Desperate to generate profits and the elusive but crucial EPS (earnings per share), some yielded to "cooking the books," a poisonous stew.


The Maverick's Way

I have been in business through both periods-for over sixty years. And through those sixty years, I have done it differently.

Let me state up front the principle that has guided me: There is the traditional way to conduct business and do your job, as for the most part it is taught in the business schools and practiced in industry. There is the deeply flawed New Economy way. And there is the maverick's way that looks not to the dogma of the past, nor to existing models of action and behavior, but struggles to determine what is truly effective regardless of traditions and trends. It is a mutant of the Old Old and the New New, a way of thinking that retains the enduring values of the Old and the vigor of the New. One might call it the New Old Thing.

The maverick's way of conducting business forswears the leader as commanding general; it rejects the practice of top-down, authoritative command. Rather, it proposes the leader as catalyst, conscience, and inspirer. It embraces technology, but only in the service of the customer, not to his intimidation or for its own sake. It sees that much of what ails business today arises from the narrowness of preparation, the emphasis on specialization, and the failure to build a philosophical base or sound judgment based on critical thinking. Critical thinking allows one to review business decisions against a carefully developed, carefully honed set of personal values.

When you like or dislike something-a painting, a piece of music, a policy, a point of view, a play, or a business idea-it is useful and rewarding to be able to explain your preference or conclusion, both to yourself and to others. One's evaluations should be based less on "I know what I like" and more on "I like what I know."

Presented with a new advertising campaign, for example, an executive who says "I don't like it" or "It doesn't feel good" may be honest, but this type of comment is not helpful. When you are able to explain your reaction, you will have evaluated and mastered the material and be able to explain why you believe what you believe. For example, "The visual part of this ad does not resonate or harmonize with the text." Or, "The message contradicts our fundamental beliefs," or "The colors are vibrant when the message is intended to be somber."

Developing a reasoned analysis and evaluation that you can communicate to others is the mark of a true leader, a leader who is able to exercise critical judgment rather than one who forces the facts to fit a predetermined conclusion.

You may remember the story of Procrustes (ProKRUStees), a villainous figure in Greek mythology. Not someone you would want to meet, then or now. Travelers on the road to Attica were enticed to stop at his house. Once snared, the victim was tied to Procrustes' bed. Then the poor fellow's legs were stretched or cut off to accommodate the length of the bed-the ultimate "one size fits all." The hero, Theseus, ultimately fitted the villain to his own bed by removing his head.

Over the years, scholars have written extensively of the Procrustean bed and of Procrustean thought-a theory or conclusion forced to fit existing practice or belief. Such thinking encourages the dogma that "this is the way we have always done things." It is the kind of thinking that stifles creativity. Today's equivalent is a failure to "think outside the box."

The leader who sees himself as a catalyst acts in a way that is the very opposite of Procrustean behavior. He may know a great deal about the subject of a meeting, may have more experience and more authority than the others in the group, but he also knows that there is more knowledge and insight available from the group than he or any one person alone can bring to it. The true leader sees his job as setting an environment in which new ideas can emerge that neither he nor any other individual anticipated. That leap of imagination, that moment of genuine creativity, can only be inspired by the leader who encourages exploration and shows a willingness to consider a totally new approach. In doing so, he promotes the growth and development of his associates and, not infrequently, stimulates a truly original solution.

Non-Procrustean leadership sees the relevance to the business of ideas, advancements, and events outside the business, and synthesizes them in an effort to make the company stronger. It requires the ability to accept failure, a willingness to acknowledge what one does not know, and a readiness to yield to a better...

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Verlag
Crown Pub
Erscheinungsdatum
2003
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0385509596
ISBN 13 
9780385509596
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
196
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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Verantwortliche Person
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