Different strokes, folks, yet all great in sales

“In the Words of Great Business Leaders”
Julie M. Fenster
John Wiley & Sons Inc. 2000


A biographical book on business leaders usually has a tendency to fit them into some neat theories on leadership, on motivation or even on strategy. The result is discourse on leadership, for instance, with the personages presented as specimens to prove or disprove a theory.

This approach is impaired by one fact: The leaders are viewed as one-dimensional individuals, at best, or merely serve as illustrative lives to reinforce the point of the biographer, at worst.

In either case, the author does not injustice to two parties: one, the featured leader who comes across as a caricature; two, the readers who are misled to believing that great leaders can conveniently fit into a formula, depriving such readers of valuable glimpse of these leaders’ unique humanity.

The featured book at least does not proceed from such infirmity as it gives us glimpses into the unique lives and times of 19 great business leaders of America from the east to the west coasts.

In fact, the issue should have been titled, “In the Lives (not Words) of Great Business Leaders,” because the profiles are more insightful that the quotes.

While some of the “words” of these leaders are quotable, the rest are not. This proves, rather than disproves, the greatness of these leaders. Their “lives” and the millions of loves they touched are deserving of memorable quotations from others.

Their “words” said mostly in board meeting remarks, in off-the-cuff interviews, and in a gathering of employees – do not show the memorable phraseology that results from the deft hand of wordsmiths and speechwriters.

And yet there are some great quotes:
Thomas J. Watson Sr., founder of Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. before it was renamed International Business Machines, says of “character”: Character should never be confused with reputation. It is not a matter of externals.”

This quote becomes more significant when you read the account of how Watson was fired by hiss boss at National Cash Register because, ironically enough he was “doing great” – and how he was pushed then to put up his own firm.

What about William Wrigley Jr. who popularized Wrigley gums in the 1860s when chewing um was not part of American life? This owner of such brands as “Juicy Fruit” and “Spearmint” has valuable advice to salesmen: “Sticking is one of the big things in salesmanship – one of the biggest. Nearly all buyers say “No!” at first. Real salesmen stick until the buyer has used up his last “No!”

Andrew Carnegie, founder of Bethlehem Steel – who therefore played a key role in building America’s gilded structure, shares his secret of success: “There is very little success where there is little laughter.” To brooding executives, listen!

And Henry Ford II, who took over his grandfather’s losing car manufacturing business, gives us a perspective about profit and profit makers:

“The idea that profit is good is difficult for many people to accept …; Their instincts tell them that one man’s profit is another man’s loss … But experience tells us that in a competitive economy, business profit most from those ventures that best serve the general economic welfare.”

The Ford Motor Co., in time of peace and in time of warm, has been a positive and beneficial presence in the United States, America’s war arsenal that won the war against the Axis powers was provided by the combined resources of Ford and like-minded manufacturers.

How great, by the way, are these leaders? Author Julie M. Fernster reveals: “Their net worth, added together and translated into today’s dollars, is close to $300 billion.”

Fernster is quick to add, though, that the figure is even understated because one named business leader A.P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of America, was never a millionaire. “That was adamantly by choice,” she says,

“A.P. Gianini would not allow his net worth to reach $1 million and gave away about half his fortune every time it neared that figure.”

How to read this book? The author lumped the featured leaders under some five categories, but is quick to clarify this: “I placed the great business leaders in sections according to their strong point. Don’t take the sections too seriously, the mavericks area also great bosses. The self-made successes are hard workers…and all of them were good in sales.”

This is a great executive read at the onset of the year 2001. It starts you off with a glimpse of great leaders whose lives were as eloquent, if not more so, as their words.

Why should you grab this book? Some books have business quotes without the biopics. Other books have biographies without the quotes. This book combines the best of both worlds. And you, dear reader, are all the better for it. Happy reading in the year 2001.