Tough Choices

Tough Choices by Carly Fiorina Yes, I read a lot. Mostly biz books and magazines. And yes, there are a lot of books that I never finish. Although it may seem that I say it often, I am sincere when I say Fiorina's book is a "must read!" It is important to me to understand how and what successful leaders think, and their decision-making processes. To what do they give credit, for their accomplishments. I was surprised when there was little media coverage immediately following the boot of Fiorina. I was not a big HP fan, and so her exploits rarely reached my threshold for serious investigation. Not because she was a woman. Some of my most successful clients have been female CEOs and business owners. There is a great expression: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Working with my co-author on our personnel book for Constraints Management oriented business owners and managers, one topic that repeatedly comes up, "metrics", is covered on numerous occasions in this book (309 pages -- but a fast read). As always, your mileage may vary. Some could read this book and remark, "what is the big deal?" Others, maybe at HP or Compaq during her tenure may have a different vantage point. But as I said in my Amazon dot com review, until you have been in the role of CEO, you may be unable to appreciate the demands. Another reason to adopt Constraints Management: we see lay-offs as the last resort. But overall, this book helped me understand more of the inner workings of the Fortune 500, and those executives that lead their organizations to this elite grouping. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah November 2006 P.S. Here is a great speech that Fiorina gave last year on Economic Development.