Memos from the Chairman »

Alan C. Greenberg is the former CEO and Chairman of the Board of Bear Stearns. He is currently vice chairman emeritus of JP Morgan Chase. He is the author of Memos from the Chairman.

Mark Singer is a staff writer for The New Yorker . He is the author of several books, among them Funny Money and Character Studies.

Ace Greenberg does almost everything better than I do-bridge, magic tricks, dog training, arbitrage-all of the important things in life. (Warren Buffet)

Make decisions based on common sense. Avoid the herd mentality. Control expenses with unrelenting vigil. Execute the fundamentals. Free your motivated, intelligent people from the chain of command. Hire PSDs. And stay humble, humble, humble.

These are just some of Alan C. Greenberg's management truths. And they've served him and his company well. Since taking over as chairman 18 years ago, this cigar-smoking, shirt-sleeved trader has helped transform Bear Stearns into one of the most profitable investment banks in the world.

And one way he's done it is through the judicious use of memos that inspire, exhort, and coax is colleagues on to ever-greater efficiency and prosperity. Now, after gathering a reputation in financial circles over the years, Ace Greenberg's wise and often humorous messages are collected in Memos From the Chairman, where they combine to create a unique management philosophy.

Focused, simple and sane, it's a philosophy that will benefit everyone in business, from Fortune 500 CEOs, to middle managers, to entrepreneurs.

Library Journal

When Greenberg became chair of the investment banking firm Bear Stearns in 1978, he began the practice of communicating to his staff via memos. While this is accepted practice in the business world, Greenberg's staff soon discovered that their boss wrote memos quite unlike the ones they were used to receiving. This collection of memos written between 1978 and 1995 covers topics ranging from conserving electricity to promptly answering telephones. All are written with gentleness and wit. It is comforting to read memos from an employer who communicates to employees with intelligence and compassion. For business collections.-Andrea C. Dragon, Coll. of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J.