A Compilation by Harvard Business Review

 
Reviewed By Wayne Mates

This paperback is part of a series of business books recently published by Harvard Business Review, one of the most revered publishers in the country for business. As such, I looked forward to some insight into business that I hadn’t read before.

The book is composed of 9 articles covering a variety of topics. Each article mixes theory and the practicality of real world examples. As you would expect from the professors of Harvard, the articles are well thought out and provide solid business school fundamentals. Some also draw in their real business experiences to add color. There is nothing like having experienced and done it to add validity to your teaching.

Articles delve into what resources you need to start up and questions you need to answer (and what the correct answers are) if you are to be a success.

There are three articles on when to relinquish the CEO role and hire a professional CEO. This article points out that Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Michael Dell are the exceptions; that it takes an extraordinary person to both found and lead a company into market dominance. You may remember Apple forced out Steve Jobs and replaced him with a professional CEO. That didn’t work out too well for them.

Since there are a number of authors, the quality of the articles can vary from very well written and researched to marginally effective. Most are excellent and will cause you to pause and ask yourself some hard questions about what you are doing and why. Pondering the answers will give you valuable insight into your company, your senior managers and staff. Coming up with the right answers will determine how far you can take your fledging company.

This is an excellent book for those who are anticipating founding a business as well as those who have little experience and may be searching for answers. I highly recommend this book.

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