Further Up the Organization: How Groups of People Working Together for a Common Purpose Ought to Conduct Themselves for Fun and Profit

by Robert C. Townsend

Robert Townsend, former CEO and the man that got AVIS to "Try Harder" tells in provocative style how to get rid of the inertia in American Business. This is your opportunity to learn from the master.

Genres: Business, Management, Nonfiction, Leadership

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 1984

About the author

Robert C. Townsend (d. 1998) drew upon his early experiences as a banker at American Express Co. to redirect Avis Rent-a-Car as president and chairman. Under his leadership, Avis experienced a celebrated turnaround, fueled by the "We Try Harder" advertising campaign. Townsend also worked as an executive at 20th Century Fox and was director at several companies, including Dun and Bradstreet and Radica Games. Townsend was a celebrity in his own right, and a frequent lecturer and talk-show guest.

Reviews

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a manager, read this book. If you're a staff employee, read this book. If you're a bureaucrat, paper-pusher, VP or CEO, run far away from this book, because you're the problem.

Amazing that Townsend wrote this book in 1970 and revised it in the early '80s -- and despite the fact that it was a best-seller the first time around and is now considered a business classic, it remains ignored by most in the business/executive community. (Because when it's your ox that's being gored ...) I wonder what Townsend, who died in the mid-'90s, would make of these days of huge executive-staff pay disparities and Wall Street weasels. He'd probably start a company and never take it public.

It depresses me that so little of the book's recommendations have become commonplace, but that's human nature for you: look out for No. 1, and screw everyone else.

[Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Townsend's snarky tone is amusing to read, at times, though not always practical. His notion, for example, that an organization is just going to hire an ad agency and let that agency run whatever they want, no questions asked, no feedback incorporated, etc. That's not going to happen. It worked well for him and the Avis example, but generally speaking, that's just not how business works. He also has some downright weird opinions at times, such as that better marketing ideas will come out of doing "secluded getaways" with the team vs. consulting marketing experts. I think this displays a bit too much unnecessary hostility toward experienced and knowledgeable marketing people.

But there are also some good common sense opinions here, such as: brevity is generally better (such as when trying to convince a board), don't spend so much time on unnecessary documentation like fancy "corporate image" annual reports, the "Theory Y" style of management is generally better, be open to reviewing outside job offers with people and don't get possessive/emotional about it, have fewer meetings, etc. A quick and entertaining (for a business book) read.

I liked this one-liner: "Titles are a form of psychic compensation."

[Hrvoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read up the organization. And this is something like dictionary for the first book. Awesome. A w e s o m e.

[Harkirat Bansal · Rating 4 out of 5]

No BS / candid read on how to move the organizations and be a true leader !!

[Graig Yarbrough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book for its time.

[Julien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beaucoup d'exemple de sa vie et de son expérience, spécifique à un domaine, avec parfois peu d'explications.

[Bouwe Hamaersma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Formative

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfectly pithy.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the first, still worth the read.