Book Published:  “Learn to Whisper” by Robert F. Amter

Posted by on June 13, 2023 · Leave a Comment 

Organized into 101 successful management lessons and separated into 17 subjects, “Learn to Whisper” is everything a CEO needs to know not just to manage, but how to write and execute the turnaround plan to fix distressed manufacturing companies. “Learn to Whisper” is available on this Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/ya3sttmk Tweet

Category "Learn to Whisper", A Worthwhile Management Book, Avoiding a Common Manufacturing Problem, Broken Business Model, CEOs, Chief Executive Officer, Effective management and employee communication, Leadership, Management, Manufacturing, Turnarounds, turnarounds of manufacturing companies · Tags

Work at Home or in the Office?

Posted by on December 5, 2022 · Leave a Comment 

There are obvious benefits to the employee of working from home. However the negatives to the company are too significant to ignore. In every turnaround of a distressed company I have fixed, the absence of face-to-face cross-functional communication was glaringly absent. Cross-functional communication is defined as employees from every function meeting as a group on […]

Category American Management Association, Avoiding a Common Manufacturing Problem, Books, Broken Business Model, Business failure, CEOs, Chief Executive Officer, Cross-functional communication, Effective management and employee communication, Leadership, Management, Turnarounds · Tags

A Worthwhile Management Book

Posted by on March 14, 2016 · Leave a Comment 

Thomas E. Ricks’ book, “The Generals”, is the history and essentially a performance evaluation of more than a dozen US Army Generals from World War II through 2012. It is not very flattering for some generals. It is a well-written management and leadership book. Although not intended to be a textbook its examples of what […]

Category A Worthwhile Management Book, CEOs, Chief Executive Officer, Leadership, Management, The Art of War · Tags , , , , , ,

My Leadership Excellence magazine article “Seven lessons from a turnaround CEO”

Posted by on May 6, 2015 · Leave a Comment 

Leadership Excellence magazine published my article: “Mastering Leadership – Seven lessons from a turnaround CEO” By Robert F. Amter There are many theories about what it takes to be an effective Chief Executive Officer.  Most are based on observation and research.  They lack the hands-on, in the trenches experience of what it really takes to […]

Category Acquisitions, Bankruptcies, Bankruptcy, Best Companies to Work For, Business failure, CEOs, Chief Executive Officer, Emerson Electric Co., Leadership, Leadership Excellence magazine, Management, Manufacturing, Peter Drucker, The Art of War, Turnarounds, USA · Tags , , , , , , ,

An Avoidable Manufacturing Failure?

Posted by on June 16, 2014 · Leave a Comment 

Google announced in May that it has decided to close its Motorola Moto X smartphone plant. The Texas plant has been in operation for one year. Its smartphones will be manufactured in China and Brazil. One goal for this plant was to “…challenge conventional wisdom that manufacturing in the U.S. is too expensive.” But unit […]

Category An Avoidable Manufacturing Failure?, Apple Computer, Avoiding a Common Manufacturing Problem, Best Companies to Work For, Business failure, China, Leadership, Management, Manufacturing, Turnarounds, USA · Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Steve Jobs compared to Peter Drucker

Posted by on October 7, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

Steve Jobs built Apple Computer into one of the most successful and valuable companies in history. He had a distinctive management style. How would his management compare to the advice Peter Drucker would give a CEO? Steve Jobs’ practice of management: Heavy stress on innovation. He did not have all the innovative thoughts that proved […]

Category Apple Computer, Best Companies to Work For, CEOs, Chief Executive Officer, Inside Drucker's Brain, Leadership, Management, Peter Drucker, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs compared to Peter Drucker · Tags , , , , , , ,

My AMA article: “Hard-Won Lessons from a Turnaround CEO”

Posted by on April 18, 2013 · Leave a Comment 

    The American Management Association published my article  “Anticipate, Focus, Execute – Hard-Won Lessons from a Turnaround CEO”. An excerpt from the article is as follows: “After 15 years at Emerson Electric Co, I have spent more than 20 years as a turnaround CEO.  During this time, I have discovered that companies get themselves […]

Category American Management Association, Best Companies to Work For, Business failure, CEOs, Chief Executive Officer, Emerson Electric Co., Leadership, Management, Peter Drucker, Turnarounds · Tags , , ,

The Jaguar and Land Rover Turnaround

Posted by on September 18, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

I was pleased to read the New York Times recent article “Tata Motors Finds Success in Jaguar Land Rover”. The article describes the turnaround of the troubled England based manufacturer of Jaguars and Land Rovers by Tata Motors an automobile manufacturer headquartered in India. Tata purchased the company from Ford Motor Company in 2008. The […]

Category Automobiles, Bankruptcies, Business failure, CEOs, Chief Executive Officer, Detroit, England, Ford, India, Jaguar, Land Rover, Leadership, Manufacturing, Tata Motors, The Big Three, Turnarounds · Tags , , , ,

Miyamoto Musashi, “The Book of Five Rings”

Posted by on March 16, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

There are several revered authorities whose management principles result in businesses becoming and continuing to be successful. Two of the most famous: Peter Drucker and the legendary Sun Tzu. Peter Drucker is the eminent author of 39 management books and is considered the “father of modern management”. Sun Tzu is the author of “The Art […]

Category Business failure, CEOs, Leadership, Manufacturing, Miyamoto Musashi, Peter Drucker, The Art of War · Tags , , , , , , , , ,

What Leads to Business Failure?

Posted by on October 14, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

Donald Keough’s book “The Ten Commandments for Business Failure”is an interesting, creditable book useful to Chief Executive Officers with a company culture that needs improvement. Donald Keough is the former President of The Coca-Cola Company. The book is a short, easy read that covers all the elements of a positive culture. Some of it is self-evident. […]

Category Bankruptcies, Bankruptcy, Blog, Books, Business failure, CEOs, Chief Executive Officer, Leadership · Tags , , , , , , , ,

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Reason I wrote my book “Learn to Whisper”

Click on this link for a more complete description of “Learn to Whisper”

The reason I wrote “Learn to Whisper”:

My conclusion after operating as a Turnaround Chief Executive Officer for more than twenty-five years is that the majority of this country’s top management is far from first-rate. In fact top management, particularly at the chief executive officer level, is at best average with a large number that can be rated mediocre. This lack of management competence has seen this country’s market leaders lose sizeable market share to foreign manufacturers able to export better quality and lower cost products to the USA. It has seen manufacturing and service operations unnecessarily moved to foreign countries. All of which has negatively affected the economy, severely damaged former blue-chip corporations and seen quality jobs lost.

It is quite common to discover that companies struggling with this inability to compete with foreign companies have been simply mismanaged. The once successful business deteriorated because of an incompetent chief executive officer and weak senior management

Why doesn’t this nation have first-rate management? Inadequate training. Chief executive officers and vice presidents learn “on the job”. A number get promoted based on personality, political connections and drive – not merit. They are not carefully screened for the potential to become successful at managing. For some all that is needed is a well-written resume, the right interviewing style and the inability of a new employer to accurately assess skills, performance and potential.

Compare this to the process doctors go through. From medical school to internship to residency to a senior role after years of education, experience and continuous training their progress and capabilities are constantly monitored even after they become senior in the profession. Generals and Admirals go through a similar protocol. They must prove themselves in low-level assignments before they are judged qualified for senior positions. Unqualified applicants in both professions are culled out. What can be done to improve management competence? Education, on-the-job training and job performance monitoring. My book will educate people on the subject of managing. Its 101 management lessons are separated into the 17 subjects managers need to know.