“Most successful leaders are mentally and emotionally
askew. There’s a good side, which gets the job done. There’s
often also a downside that makes them hard to understand or
difficult to work for. It’s precisely that they are
impatient, stubborn, opinionated, unsatisfied, and
domineering that makes them successful.”
When Bob Lutz retired from General Motors in 2010, after an
unparalleled forty-seven-year career in the auto industry,
he was one of the most respected leaders in American
business. He had survived all kinds of managers over those
decades: tough and timid, analytical and irrational,
charismatic and antisocial, and some who seemed to shift
frequently among all those traits. His experiences
made him an expert on leadership, every bit as much as he
was an expert on cars and trucks.
Now Lutz is
revealing the leaders—good, bad, and ugly—who made the
strongest impression on him throughout his career.
Icons and Idiots is a collection of shocking and
often hilarious true stories and the lessons Lutz drew from
them. From enduring the sadism of a Marine Corps drill
instructor, to working with a washed-up alcoholic, to taking
over the reins from a convicted felon, he reflects on the
complexities of all-too-human leaders. No textbook or
business school course can fully capture their
idiosyncrasies, foibles and weaknesses – which can make or
break companies in the real world.
Lutz shows
that we can learn just as much from the most stubborn,
stupid, and corrupt leaders as we can from the inspiring
geniuses. He offers fascinating profiles of icons and idiots
such as...
Eberhard von Kuenheim. The
famed CEO of BMW was an aristocrat-cum-street fighter who
ruled with secrecy, fear, and deft maneuvering.
Harold A. “Red” Poling: A Ford CEO and the
ultimate bean counter. If it couldn’t be quantified, he
didn’t want to know about it.
Lee
Iacocca: The legendary Chrysler CEO appeared to be
brillant and bold, but was often vulnerable and insecure
behind the scenes.
G. Richard “Rick”
Wagoner: The perfect peacetime CEO whose superior
intelligence couldn’t save GM from steep decline and a
government bailout.
As Lutz writes: We’ll
examine bosses who were profane, insensitive, totally
politically incorrect, and who “appropriated” insignificant
items from hotels or the company. We’ll visit the mind of a
leader who did little but sit in his office. We’ll look at
another boss who could analyze a highly complex
profit-and-loss statement or a balance sheet at a glance,
yet who, at times, failed to grasp the simplest financial
mechanisms—how things actually worked in practice to
create the numbers in the real world.
The result is a powerful and entertaining guide
for any aspiring leader.
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