|
"When I got into family therapy, this isn't the family I had in mind."
Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal)
in "Analyze This"
Introduction by Bob
Andelman
Looking for inspiration from a tough guy?
Forget Attila the Hun. What did he know about wiretaps?
Patton? Sure, he was tough, but he had a license
to kill. How long would he last running an operation outside
of the law?
Don Corleone, now that's tough. And he understood
business. What did Ulysses Grant know about income tax evasion?
Organized crime-real and imagined-is the last
great untapped bastion of professional management and leadership
advice in America. And in an era when a whole genre of books
has emerged collecting the advice of pseudo-business leaders,
why not get the real thing from the men who run some of the most
successful and enduring businesses on Earth?
You don't have to be a gangster to appreciate the wit and wisdom
of Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, or John Gotti. And you don't
even have to know who Tony Soprano is to know he understands
how the world works a lot better than the average CEO.
What do I know about tough guys?
I'm no wiseguy. I've never killed a person
or even pulled the trigger of a gun. But I did write a book called
"Mean Business" for the corporate equivalent of John
Gotti-"Chainsaw" Al Dunlap.
Including the words of pretend Mafioso such
as Tony Soprano and Don Corleone is appropriate because so many
of today's gangsters take their cues from The Godfather movies.
Even mob turncoat Sammy "The Bull" Gravano couldn't
believe Mario Puzo made the whole Godfather saga up. "He
knew too much," Gravano says.
Here is blunt and sometimes light-hearted
wisdom from the most recognized mobsters of the modern age. Each
is followed by a brief and breezy interpretation of inspirations
you can't refuse.
(A version of this material appeared under
the title "Wiseguy Wisdom" in Context magazine, February
2001. It was also referenced in the January 2002 issue of Inc.
magazine in the story "Managing From A to Z," under
the letter "O is for Organized Crime.")
Read a
Sample Chapter:
|
About
Bob Andelman
Bob Andelman is the author or co-author of seven books, including
"The Profit Zone" with Adrian Slywotzky, "Mean
Business" with Albert J. Dunlap, and "The Corporate
Athlete" with Dr. Jack Groppel. "Built From Scratch,"
written with the co-founders of The Home Depot, was recently
published in Japan. A paperback edition of "The Corporate
Athlete" was published in January 2001.
Publishers interested in acquiring print rights to "Managed
by the Mob" should contact Judith Hansen at Kitchen &
Hansen Agency, (212) 307-0850 or judy@kitchenandhansen.com.
|
|
|
