Management in Ten Words

Book excerpt: From one of the world’s most admired business leaders, here is a remarkable book that will forever change the way you think about management. The meteoric rise of UK supermarket chain Tesco from humble beginnings to its current status as one of the largest retailers in the world can be largely credited to one man—its recently departed CEO, Terry Leahy. Leahy’s unflagging drive and commitment to progress, his no-nonsense approach to leadership, and his visionary perspective on the manager’s role made him a transformative figure not only within his company but within the culture at large—he was voted Business Person of the Year by the Sunday Times in 2010. But what’s Leahy’s secret? How did a workingclass kid whose first job with Tesco was stocking shelves rise to become his company’s most dynamic leader—quadrupling the firm’s profits and creating a new job every twenty minutes for more than ten years? How did he steer a midlevel supermarket chain to such success that it now accounts for one-seventh of all British spending on consumer goods, with truly global reach and thriving departments in everything from mobile-phone operation to financial services? The answer can be found in ten deceptively simple words—words such as truth, loyalty, courage, and balance. Everyone thinks they understand what these words mean. But what Leahy learned in his fourteen years as the world’s greatest turnaround artist was that there is far more to actually practicing these time-honored values than most people know. Management in 10 Words is Terry Leahy’s unflinchingly honest, deeply insightful account of the most valuable, hard-won lessons of his career. For any leader who aspires to be truly exceptional, this book is a must-read.