The Leadership Genius of Alfred P. Sloan: Invaluable Lessons on Business, Management, and Leadership for Today's Manager

by Allyn Freeman

Visionary business leader Alfred P. Sloan (1875-1965) revolutionized the world of the American corporation like no one else ever had done before him--or would ever do again. From his groundbreaking approaches for leadership by consensus, encouraging dissent, employing facts and data, and managing consumers, Sloan not only created the General Motors powerhouse during his thirty-year tenure--his brilliance as CEO there is legendary--but he also influenced the strategic vision, leadership style, and operational discipline of today's most successful companies. In The Leadership Genius of Alfred P. Sloan, Allyn Freeman explains why Sloan's principles have stood the test of time, remaining the basic building blocks of effective managerial leadership in organizations large or small. He demonstrates how these innovative principles are playing out in business today, taking you through their successful application at GM and distilling lessons that all managers can use as guideposts in their business. Freeman also provides instructive case studies from top companies across a wide range of industries--from Coca Cola, Marian Labs, and Nike to the Smithsonian, Heinz, and Hallmark--to demonstrate how they are effectively implementing Sloan's concepts. You'll learn how to duplicate Sloan's methods and reap the benefits

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2005

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a book named: The Leadership Genius of Alfred P. Sloan by Allyn Freeman. This book is a classic modern management. It introduces how Sloan modernized General Motors’ management and how we can apply those techniques.

Many people talk about Sloan's ideas in terms of data-based, open discussion, talent-based, power-centralized, democratic decision-making, but what I am interested in is: what is the basis for Slan's success? That is, he helped GM defeated Ford during the year 1920-1936, raising GM's market share of 358%. Here is Sloan's way: he found Ford's flaw was no choices for colors, styles, and prices. Thus he encouraged multi-function and varied prices so that customers are willing to pay for their freedom to choose. Also, he optimized corporate structure with democracy, different with what it was at Ford. What is this history telling us? We need to analyze your rival's flaws, consider which as mirrors, and increase chances of success.

The second thing I find interesting is, he realized there are four things would change the way how people buy cars during the 1920's: credit, trade-ins, auto bodies and the annual introduction of new models. He found that the U.S. was becoming a consumer society at that time. What is this history telling us? Nowadays China is also at the transition point toward a consumer society, thus its local automakers could grip this chance.

We learn lessons from history, with purposes of avoiding mistakes and moving forward.

[CENK TOLGA ÇIĞGIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beş yıldız vermekte kesinlikle zorlanmadığım bir kitap oldu. Kitabın iddialı ismine "Liderlik Dehası" başlığına baktığınızda bir pazarlama oyununun içerisine çekildiğinizi düşünebilirsiniz ki ben kitabı şans üzeri elime aldığımda ne Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. adı ne de içerisinde bulunduğumuz "modern işletme" kültürüne katkıları hakkında hiç bir şey bilmiyordum. Sadece "Sloan" adına MIT'in işletme okulundan (https://mitsloan.mit.edu/) aşinaydım ve neden bu adla alındığına dair bir fikrim de yoktu. Kitapa GM (General Motors) şirketini karmaşadan kurtarıp sadece otomobil sektörünün değil dünyanın en büyük şirketi haline getiren Sloan'ın hikayesini okuyorsunuz. Ancak bu hikayede sadece Sloan ve GM hikayesini değil bugün içerisinde çoğumuzun birer yaka rengiyle (mavi/beyaz) yer aldığımız "modern işletme" kavramının doğuşuna ve gelişimine tanıklık ediyorsunuz. Ayrıca kitapta Sloan'ın uygulamalarının ve fikirlerinin yayılımına örnek olarak Coca-Cola'dan Nike'a bir çok şirket hikayesine de yer veriliyor. Yönetim ve organizasyon konusunda çalışanların veya bu konuya meraklı olan okuyucuların mutlaka okuması gerektiğini düşündüğüm bir kitap. Tavsiye ederim.