What the Best CEOs Know looks at the careers of this generation's top CEOs, examining the beliefs and actions that propelled each to the top of the corporate world. By exploring what they did, why they did it, and what might have happened had they done it differently, this remarkable book turns the wisdom, strategies, and tactics of these business-world icons into a step-by-step handbook for the pursuit and achievement of breakthrough corporate leadership--at any level, in any industry.

What the Best CEOs Know goes beyond theory and guesswork to look at how seven contemporary business icons carved their own paths to the pinnacles of corporate achievement. This no-nonsense guide isolates and examines the specific skills and styles that contributed to each CEO’s well-documented achievements. Its straightforward, sometimes startling, but always battle-tested guidelines for achievement include:

How Michael Dell created a computer juggernaut by placing customers at the epicenter of his enterprise;

How Bill Gates trusted the instincts of his employees and successfully transformed Microsoft into a leading Web driver and innovator;

How Andy Grove fostered awareness in his troops--what he calls paranoia--to sense threats and turn them to Intel’s competitive advantage;

How Jack Welch created a learning infrastructure, aligning rewards with results to make GE an organization that harnessed the ideas and intellect of every employee;

Herb Kelleher’s rules for creating an exceptional small company culture, even as Southwest grew to more than 30,000 employees.

The Era of the CEO?

PART 1: What Made Them Great

CHAPTER 1: The Exceptional Seven and the Traits That Defined Them

PART 2: Defining Strategies of Exceptional Leaders

CHAPTER 2: Place the Customer at the Epicenter of the Business Model Michael Dell and the Art of the Customer

CHAPTER 3: Create an Authentic Learning Organization How Jack Welch Converts Learning into Results

CHAPTER 4: Focus on Solutions Lou Gerstner on Creating a Customer-Obsessed IBM

CHAPTER 5: Prepare the Organization for Drastic Change Andy Grove on Strategic Inflection Points

CHAPTER 6: Harness the Intellect of Every Employee Bill Gates on Creating a Knowledge-Based Organization

CHAPTER 7: Create a Performance-Driven Culture Herb Kelleher on the Importance of Creating a Family-Like Culture

CHAPTER 8: Learn from Competitors, but Remain Faithful to the Vision How Sam Walton"s Vision Created the World"s Largest Company

Acknowledgments

Notes/Sources

Index