DE EN
Strategic effectiveness-Services
What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School
by Mark H. McCormack
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Profile Books; Main edition (31 July 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1781253390
ISBN-13: 978-1781253397
This book is another example of a business classic. First published in 1984, it became a long seller over the years. Mark McCormack was the founder of IMG (International Management Group), the first sports management company, representing some of the world’s most famous sports athletes, such as Jack Nicklaus, Jean-Claude Killy or Jackie Stewart.
In this book, Mark McCormack not only provides illustrative insights into the world of sports and major deals, but gives very practical and methodical advice for diverse management situations. He himself taught at Business Schools. However, the title of the book is more than a catchy phrase. In the preface, he writes: “In fairness to Harvard Business School, what they don’t teach you is what they can’t teach you, which is how to read people…” And, it is exactly his quality to read people and use these insights in business, which is absolutely striking. There are numerous examples throughout the book. The chapter on this is a “must read”.
Mark McCormack was particularly known for his negotiation skills, therefore the chapters on sales and negotiations can be recommended to everybody, who would like to improve on these qualities. His ideas and viewpoints in the part “Running a Business” were especially positively surprising to me. There, he shows a very systemic approach to building and managing a business and provides very practical and methodical advice, which has not lost any of its validity up to our days. A business book really worth reading!