The Education of an Accidental CEO.........

The Education of an Accidental CEO by David Novak, Chairman and CEO of YUM Brands.

Just finished this book and really a good read and I really liked the book. I am not going to provide a detailed review of the book here but I am going to list some of the “take aways” for me from this book. One of the major reasons for me to read this book is that he is not from a business background nor am I and I wanted to see how and what he did to run a global highly successfully firm. Here are my takeaways in no particular order but if you want to get the best of the book, please read it – worth every word and every page of it.

Most business is white noise and you have to find a way to stand out and break the clutter.
Love what you do (MANJU: this is very common, actually I prescribe people “to do what they love” and there is a HUGE difference between the two even though both revolve around loving and doing)
You never know what you are capable of until you give it a shot.
Power of positive thinking – you become what you think you can become
Enthusiasm is infectious
You don’t get promoted until people already see you in that position
People watch the leader much more closely during bad times than good times and that’s when they discover what one is really made up of.
A company would get much better results and drive shareholder value by being focused on one type of business (MANJU: In doubt? Read Differentiate or Die)
Best ways to get people feel invested in their company is make them owners, literally (MANJU: Darn right. In S7, even our coffee boy and office boy has very good stake in the company)
When the student is willing, the teacher appears (MANJU: when the founders are willing, advisors appear)
The desire to be valued is at the root of every culture.
One of Glen Bell (founder of Taco Bell)’s innovations was the idea of saturating a neighborhood (MANJU: I guess that is what Star Bucks is doing it successfully and in our motherland, Café Coffee Day is doing too)
Wal-Mart’s sign board “TODAY’S STOCK PROCE IS X, TOMORROW’S IS UP TO YOU (MANJU: just love this statement)
If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the PROBLEM
Will Roger’s Quote “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there”
The responsibility of the leader is to define reality and create hope
Numbers don’t lie (MANJU: I just love this and is very critical; Another one which is also very true is if you cant measure, you cant manage it)
A road to nowhere is hard to build (MANJU: Have a clear focus for your company on where to reach so that you can plan and construct everything to reach there)
Thinking BIG is CRITICAL but your goals have to be based in reality (else they be called fantasies)
These are some of the takeaways and if you like any on the above mentioned ones, read the book and understand the whole issue behind it and not just a saying or a sentence.

As they say, king is dead long live the king, so is my reading. I am done with this but have already started the other book : “The business of Software by Michael A. Cusumano”; My previous book was “Think and Grow rich” – OK book and didn’t like it that much.

More blogs later!!!