The General Managers

In this unprecedented study of America's leading executives, John Kotter shatters the popular management notion of the effective "generalist" manager who can step into any business or division and run it. Based on his first-hand observations of fifteen top GMs from nine major companies, Kotter persuasively shows that the best manager is actually a specialist who has spent most of his or her career in one industry, learning its intricacies and establishing cooperative working relationships. Acquiring the painstaking knowledge and large, informal networks vital to being a successful manager takes years; outsiders, no matter how talented or well-trained seldom can do as well, this in-depth profile reveals. Much more than a fascinating collective portrait of the day-to-day activities of today's top executives, The General Managers provides stimulating new insights into the nature of modern management and the tactics of its most accomplished practitioners.

---

All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Quaint, Historical, Cool, 2009-01-02
This book, written in 1982, is now more of a historical book marking a point in the evolution of managerial science rather than a practical guide. The original, mostly qualitative research that makes up the book was taken during 1976 to 1981, so realistically this is a 70's picture of the art of general management. Historically, the book was written as corporations were in the large, competitive operating companies mode within large consolidating umbrella corporations to single unified businesses; during a period of nascent initial acceptance and declining skepticism of using information technology; and an increase in economic growth post the gas crunch and recession of the 70's in America. The book profiles 9 GM's at large companies with profit-center responsibility. This might understate it: these were not middle managers--they were one level below the CEO, they were divisional presidents managing hundreds or thousands of staff.

Topics covered include types of stress and difficulties in the job; different org charts; the kinds of personalities that one finds in this kind of role; and finally different approaches to setting and communicating strategies to their staff. One of the more interesting inserts in the book is a minute by minute day-in-the-life of a divisional GM, which reads almost like reality TV--and without spoiling it makes one wonder how these folks ever get anything done. Overall, this is an interesting read into what businesses were like and management science was like in 1979 or so, almost quaint in some ways, with potentially a few timeless truths about management.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

An excellent field guide to general management!, 2007-03-28
THE GENERAL MANAGERS
By John Kotter (JK)

GENERAL MANAGERS IN ACTION: POLICIES & STRATEGIES
by Francis Aguilar (FA)


While re-sorting/re-organising my personal library recently, these two books happened to pop out right in front of me. I had owned & read them during the mid-eighties when I had just been promoted to General Manager. In fact, they were my constant companions - field guides to be exact - during the nine years when I had held this position with three different firms across three different industries (chemicals manufacturing in Thailand, software development in Singapore, & metals trading in Singapore with manufacturing interests in Indonesia).
Both authors were known to me as I had read John Kotter (JK)'s 'Power & Influence: Beyond Formal Authority' & Francis Aguilar (FA)'s 'Scanning the Business Environment' in earlier years.

While JK's book was more specific in terms of the vital tasks & responsibilities of a GM, particularly from a typical American landscape, FA's book was more broad-based & intellectually more stimulating with an added international flavour. Nevertheless, both books were very well-written & easy to read. Both my own copies were earlier or first editions. I am gratified to know that newer editions of both books are now available from amazon website.

JK's book was based on the author's first-hand observations of fifteen top GMs from nine major companies. He described a typical day in the life of a successful GM. On the basis of his research into the daily behavior of GMs, he identified a dozen of typical patterns, discussed their implications & concluded that it was hard to fit the GM's behavior into categories like planning, organizing, controlling, directing, or staffing.

He argued that, in order to understand the general managers' behavior it is fundamental to recognize the two fundamental challenges & dilemmas in their jobs:

1) Figuring out what to do in the light of uncertainty & information anxiety;
2) Getting things done through a diverse group of people in spite of having little control over them;

Accordingly, GMs used agenda setting & network building to tackle these two challenges. The author further discussed both these tools in detail. He also explained how GMs use their entire networking relationships to implement their agendas.

With the author's fascinating portrait of the day-to-day activities of top GMs, I was really glad that I was able to piece together some workable composite ideas for my own career accomplishments.

There was, however, only one intriguing point from JK's book. He persuasively argued that the best manager was actually a specialist who had spent most of his career in one industry, learning its intricacies & establishing cooperative working relationships.

For readers' convenience, I append below the book's table of contents:

1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE GENERAL MANAGMENT JOBS: KEYS CHALLENGES & DILEMMAS
3. THE GM: PERSONAL & BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS
4. THE GMS IN ACTION PART II: SIMILARITIES IN BEHAVIOUR
5. THE GMS IN ACTIONS PART I: DIFFERENCES IN BEHAVIOUR
6. SUMMARY DISCUSSIONS & IMPLICATIONS FOR INCREASING GM PERFORMANCE
APPENDIX: INTERVIEW GUIDES, QUESTIONNAIRES, RESUMES, APPRAISING GM
PERFORMANCE

As for FA's book, which was originally intended as a case-study book for advanced management courses, I was able to use it as companion reading to JK's book.

Content-wise, it had eighteen classic case studies from a variety of international businesses that illuminate the major decisions of business life & the strategies for dealing with specific situations. The author also painstakingly discussed the critical issues faced by most GMs.

From this book, I had obtained very clear perspectives on the complex issues of strategic management. The chapter on 'Formulating Strategy', in which the author touched on managing the quality of strategic thinking, was my favourite.

For readers' convenience, I append below the table of contents of the book as follows:

PART I: THE GENERAL MANAGER

1. THE GM'S JOB
2. STRATEGY & THE GM
3. FORMULATING STRATEGY
4. IMPLEMENTING STRATEGY
5. THE GM AS LEADER
6. MEETING THE GLOBAL BUSINESS CHALLENGE
7. CORPORATE FINANCE & THE GM
8. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PART II: CASES ON GENERAL MANAGEMENT, CORPORATE STRATEGY & BUSINESS POLICY

To conclude this review, I had derived tremendous pleasure from reading both books during the mid-eighties just as they had also provided me with stimulating insights as well as practical guidance about the complexities of general management. That really made my life easier as a GM during those tough nine years.

Although the case studies may be dated in today's context, I believe the strategies & tools for general management as outlined in the two books are still highly relevant & readily applicable.




3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Effective Leadership Techniques, 2005-05-15
This is the book that started it all for Dr. John Kotter. It's still a classic.

When Dr. Kotter set out to study general managers there was at least one thing he was pretty sure he'd find. He was sure they'd be great time managers. After all, that was the great management effectiveness builder of the age.

Back then, time management was supposed to involve the careful auditing and controlling of time use. Good time managers were expected to carefully plan their days and then rigorously work their plan. But what Kotter discovered was something very different.

He discovered that effective general managers seemed more flexible than their peers. They were constantly engaging in ad-hoc, hallway meetings and using those occasions to covey their important messages.

What Kotter had stumbled upon was less a variation in good time management practice than it was an effective communications strategy. Senior managers, indeed, any managers, can only effectively communicate a few important things in the time available.

Kotters general managers knew this. So they made sure they knew what the most important messages were that they needed to get across.

They also understood that their important messages needed to be simple and repeated over and over again. They learned to seize whatever opportunities presented themselves and use them to share their key message.

Time management has come a long way since this book was written. Just compare any time management book from the 70s with David Allen's "The Art of Getting Things Done."

Communications channels have changed as well. Now there is voicemail and email. There are wireless phones, Wi-Fi hotspots, and email-enabled pagers.

If the general managers that Kotter studied were dropped into today's world, I'm sure they would face Rip-van-Winkle-like adjustments. They'd have to learn a lot about technology.

But they'd still understand that basics of good supervision, management and leadership. That's what this book is about and why it's worth reading.

Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.