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Guts: 8 Laws of Business from One of the Most Innovative Business Leaders of Our Time » (REV)

Book cover image of Guts: 8 Laws of Business from One of the Most Innovative Business Leaders of Our Time by Robert A. Lutz

Authors: Robert A. Lutz
ISBN-13: 9780471463221, ISBN-10: 0471463221
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Date Published: September 2003
Edition: REV

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Author Biography: Robert A. Lutz

ROBERT A. LUTZ is General Motors’s Vice Chairman of Product Development and Chairman of GM North America. He is highly regarded for his genius in product development, most notably for his 1989 concept car, the Viper, and he is renowned for leading Chrysler to its second renaissance in the 1990s. Automotive News called Lutz "the towering figure in the American automotive industry in the last three decades in this century."

Book Synopsis

What do you do with a book that’s filled with controversial, counterintuitive, and downright contrarian statements that stand conventional wisdom on its ear and claim, lightheartedly, to be immutable "laws of business?" If the author is Robert Lutz, you read the book very carefully, probably several times, learn all of the "laws" by heart, and follow them to the letter every chance you get. You also find yourself laughing out loud, shaking your head in wonder, and nodding in agreement.

Revised and updated, this is a maverick’s primer on the business philosophy that revolutionized Chrysler and is now powering dramatic new product development at General Motors. In it, Lutz reexamines his iconoclastic maxims to see how they have withstood the test of time. With hard evidence, hilarious anecdotes, and his characteristic frankness, the high-flying chairman of GM North America challenges his own contention that businesses should deliberately construct a "schizophrenic" corporate culture that combines rock-solid financial controls with a highly creative, no-holds-barred product development process.

Concluding that his laws have served him well and are generally reliable in any business situation and any industry, he goes on to explain why:

  • The customer isn’t always right
  • The primary purpose of business isn’t "to make money"
  • When everybody else is doing it, don’t
  • Too much quality can ruin you
  • Financial controls are bad
  • Disruptive people are an asset
  • Teamwork isn’t always good

If Lutz’s first seven laws aren’t provocative enough for you, wait until you read the new one that he formulated for executives charged with managing mergers and takeovers or rehabilitating failing companies. Suffice it to say, it involves the use of a flamethrower.

Enriched by Lutz’s deep store of business wisdom acquired over three-plus decades in the automobile industry, Guts combines a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at some of the most important events in the industry’s history, with an outside-the-box view on the nature of leadership and success. This insightful, unorthodox, and thoroughly enjoyable discourse will change the way you think about product development and marketing, financial management, strategy, and managing people. It will redefine the way you think about success–and make you all the more eager and likely to achieve it.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Foreword
Ackowledgments
Prologue3
Pt. IThe Story of Chrysler's Second Turnaround
Deja Vu All Over Again9
The Patient Heals Himself: Bringing Platform Teams to Chrysler19
"We Just Did It": The Story of the Viper47
Pt. IILutz's Immutable Laws of Business
Law 1: The Customer Isn't Always Right65
Law 2: The Primary Purpose of Business Is Not to Make Money73
Law 3: When Everybody Else Is Doing It, Don't!79
Law 4: Too Much Quality Can Ruin You87
Law 5: Financial Controls Are Bad!91
Law 6: Disruptive People Are an Asset97
Law 7: Teamwork Isn't Always Good101
Pt. IIILutz's Corollaries, or "The Rest of the Story!"
It's Okay to Be Anal Sometimes113
A Little Fear, in Reality, Ain't All That Bad131
Leadership Is All about Common Sense, Which, Unfortunately, Is Not All That Common161
Some Squeaky Wheels Don't Get the Grease, or
Pros and Cons of Being a Change Agent195
Epilogue213
Index221

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