- ISBN13: 9780471755821
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
“I had the privilege of working closely with Marvin and McKinsey for many years. This book makes Marvin come to life and perpetuates him as a role model.”
-Peter F. Drucker
“A wonderful book about a wonderful man. In many ways, Marvin’s McKinsey framed the hypotheses in our own search for excellence-for example, passion for values, belief in people as the prime resource, and willingness to let people experiment. As well as I thought I knew Marv… More >>
McKinsey’s Marvin Bower: Vision, Leadership, and the Creation of Management Consulting
Tags: bower, Consulting, Creation, hypotheses, Leadership, Management, marv, Marvin, marvin bower, McKinsey, mckinseys, peter f drucker, prime resource, remainder mark, s marvin, Vision, vision leadership, wonderful man
#1 by Anonymous on April 16, 2010 - 8:07 pm
In short a decent biographical sketch of Bower’s development and leadership experiences, however the whole point of the book has been underminde by “The Firm’s” recent involvement in various scandals. It focuses too heavily on ‘integrity’, which can no longer be harped on in the same sentence with McKinsey due to SwissAir, Enron, etc.
All in all, a heavily biased book that provides minimal objective value add. There are MUCH better leadership books out there…Good to Great, etc.
Rating: 2 / 5
#2 by $2.95 on April 16, 2010 - 10:52 pm
This is a very nice book written by nice people who clearly love and admire the late Marvin Bower dearly. And if you want a nice, easy Marvin Bower euology, you can read this book. But you won’t learn very much about McKinsey & Company, and I doubt you’re learning the whole story about Mr. Bower.
Others have mentioned that this book was written well after some of McKinsey’s “dark” episodes occurred and as such these incidents are glaringly absent, in particular the Enron case, in which former McKinseyites and McKinsey itself architected the most massive fraud ever perpetrated in American business history that caused many with their 401(k)s tied up in Enron stock to lose all their life savings. There is not a page in the book that does not contain a reference to Mr. Bower’s “integrity”, and indeed Mr. Bower wasn’t there for Enron, but you can as easily make the case that the McKinsey culture that Mr. Bower created was as much responsible for Enron as it was for McKinsey’s more successful endeavors. You can’t have it both ways. Someone will eventually get the facts on McKinsey and Enron and that will be a hell of a story.
Rating: 2 / 5
#3 by Anonymous on April 17, 2010 - 1:02 am
This book documents one of the most successful and influential individuals in the business world. Full of case studies and examples, there are lessons here that apply to any business at any size.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Diana Cherkov on April 17, 2010 - 2:17 am
I never thought I would end up in business, but did. thought the book was a great look into the history of a firm. It has helped me review some of my own decisions and better understand them – what I did right instinctively and where there might be some opportunity to rethink things.
I enjoyed reading about the founder and found the lessons practical to what I am doing today.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Pramod Prasanth on April 17, 2010 - 2:18 am
This book tells the story – atleast it tries to – of one of the most influential persons in business management, and hence its something worth reading. But on the otherhand, its not a great book from the style of writing – it doesn’t really tell a good story and the over-riding focus on integrity – given the more than few recent episodes – I am tempted to say, its not a very balanced piece of work.
But I certainly recommend this book – despite giving it just 3 stars – gives us an insight into this influential person and his life. It provides some great ideas – valid even today on developing and living a concept – in this case – Management Consulting. And well, also shows the importance of being at the right place at the right time and having the presence of mind to realise the same!!
I will still wait for a better written book on the life of Marvin and McKinsey sometime in the future!
Rating: 3 / 5