Before you political extremists go bonkers and immediately write off this book review as either the ramblings of a neo-conservative or a pantywaist liberal, understand that I read this book from neither of these viewpoints! And before you poo-poo this book, you should know when and from what viewpoint it was written.
This is a book that looks at management style through the scope of the Gerald Ford Administration, Rumsfeld’s time at Searle, and his immediate reaction after September 11th. In these views (the book was published in 2002, so it’s not anywhere near current), Rumsfeld was a master manager and a brilliant human strategist.
And the truth is that when it comes to being a Chief Executive Officer, Rumsfeld is truly a master. The work he did in the Ford White House alone is the stuff of political maneuvering legend – when you add his amazing job as the CEO of Searle pharmaceuticals, this man and his style really becomes required reading for any MBA course. Much of this book talks about his time at Searle – and he did some amazing things there.
For those of you that don’t know, this is the company that created NutraSweet – the saccharin replacement for sugar. It was a mega hit in the 1980’s when it finally hit the market, but it might have never gotten there if it wasn’t for Rumsfeld’s restructuring of the company internally. This was a company that was moping along under the tri-management of two Searle brothers and a brother-in-law and was at odds with the FDA over approving NutraSweet.
So what did Rumsfeld do? He walked in there and reorganized the company so that there was a central command and so that they took the offensive against the FDA. And they won. Also, he hired experts in their fields and ignited the company’s research and development arm as well as their financial arm.
And when things didn’t work? He cut losses and sold off nonperforming assets. Wow! Where was this guy a few years ago with Iraq? But I digress…
For those of you who are interested in looking at a management style (and getting a book out of the $3 rack at Barnes and Noble), I suggest grabbing a copy of The Rumsfeld Way. It’s an interesting look at a guy who should be remembered in a much better light in American history, but sadly will not be after the mistakes of the last few years.
Good book – good read.
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