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The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)

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The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) Description

The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership): Spend some time with three of today's most noted business pioneers and share their secrets for achieving international success. The New Global Leaders takes readers into the private worlds of Asea Brown Boveri's Percy Barnevik, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and British Petroleum titan David Simon to provide rare and candid profiles of how these charismatic leaders have redefined organizational growth and development in the latter 20th century. The authors were granted unprecedented access to these men and the results are as fascinating as they are informative. Readers are treated to personal interviews with these very powerful and very different personalities, each of whom provides a behind-the-scenes account of how he put his company on the global map. Sharing their philosophies, visions, and strategies, they exemplify leadership in an age of rapid and relentless change and provide new models of success for our post-industrial era.

The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)

What does it take to run a global company during this age of international competition, technology, and downsized work forces? In The New Global Leaders, Manfred F.R. Kets De Vries and Elizabeth Florent-Treacy provide some answers by examining the lives and work of three of Europe's most storied business leaders: Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group; Percy Barnevik, architect of the merger that created the ABB engineering conglomerate; and David Simon, who resurrected British Petroleum. The authors find that each of these leaders succeeds with charisma and a managing philosophy that centers on speed, openness, and a disdain for bureaucracy. "As organizations go through a global 'revolution,' they require the leadership of a significantly different kind of CEO," write the authors. "Leaders at the helm of the corporations of the future will need the capacity to step out of their own comfort zone and adapt to other realities."

While the book is a bit obsequious at times, it's easy to read and understand. Common among all three executives is their simple and direct style. Simon, for example, is a zealot about meeting benchmarks. His slogan is "Performance, reputation, and teamwork." The book shines because it's three biographies and three business histories in one. Managers at companies of any size can benefit from the experiences of Branson, Barnevik, and Simon. --Dan Ring

The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)

Richard is good-looking and very smart, that is horny to start with. He additionally makes a billion bucks before breakfast—and still knows a way to make merry. Few folks in modern business are as colorful, shrewd, and irreverent, and doubtless no one’s nearly the maximum amount fun to be around. . . . Branson embodies America’s cherished mythology of the iconoclastic, swashbuckling entrepreneur. Branson wears his fame and money exceedingly well: no necktie, no chauffeur, no snooty clubs. . . . What continues to set Branson apart is the unique -- and, to some, baffling -- nature of his ambition. . . . He isn’t inquisitive about power within the usual sense of influencing others. . . . Boiled right down to its singular essence, Richard Branson just needs to own fun. Richard Branson . . . is dressed to the nines: during a $10,000 white silk bridal gown with a traditional veil and train and acres of lace. . . . Branson is expected to do the unexpected, even the bizarre -- anything to publicize his latest venture. . . . the fact is, Branson’s widely reported stunts seem nearly staid compared to the unconventional manner he manages his burgeoning empire.