The Mind of the CEO

Based on extensive and highly personal interviews with forty chief executives around the world-among them GE's Jack Welch, AOL's Steven Case, Intel's Andy Grove, Newscorp's Rupert Murdoch, BP Amoco's John Browne, Nokia's Jorma Olilla, and Toyota's Hiroshi Okuda-The Mind of the CEO takes us on a journey into the innermost thoughts of today's corporate titans and paints a compelling picture of the strategic and daily challenges facing them. Jeffrey Garten's findings are a challenge to those who are suspicious of corporate power, those who believe CEOs should focus only on enriching shareholders, and even to many CEOs who see their jobs much more narrowly. No one interested in the future can afford not to read, think about, and debate this book.

"Mr. Garten has sketched a role for business leadership that goes far beyond what Republicans and business itself have traditionally accepted.... Provocative."-New York Times

Booknews

Based on interviews with 40 CEOs from around the world, including GE's Jack Welch, AOL's Steven Chase, BP Amoco's John Browne, and Nokia's Jorma Ollila, this book explores the thoughts of business leaders. Garten (Dean, School of Management, Yale U.) concludes that CEOs are not as powerful as many people think; that they know less than they think they do about international strategies; that they will have to begin devoting attention to employees, customers, suppliers, and communities; and although they need more trust from their employees because of the increasing value in creative workers, trust is harder to win. Garten ultimately argues for a broader role for CEOs, and one less specifically focused on shareholder earnings. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jeffrey E. Garten is Dean and William S. Beinecke Professor in the Practice of International Trade and Finance at the Yale School of Management. An expert in finance and international trade, he was Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade, 1993-95, and spent thirteen years on Wall Street. Formerly on the faculties of New York University and the Columbia Business School, he writes a monthly column on the global marketplace for Business Week magazine. Author of two books, he has written widely in such publications as the Harvard Business Review, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut.