The Best Business Book Ever . . .

. . . is Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership and the Olympics  by Mitt Romney.  It’s inside story  of how he turned the Salt Lake City Olympics from a scandal-ridden business and political disaster into perhaps the most successful Winter Olympics ever.

Romney, of course, before entering politics built a career turning around troubled companies.  What makes this book so valuable — I read our local library’s copy during the election campaign and was so impressed I actually purchased the book after the election — is that it details (and I do mean details) the actions Romeny took, why he took them, when he took them and what the results were.

Unlike most business books by ceo’s, which are stunningly general, and unlike business books by journalists and business professors and consultants, this book avoids such glittering generalities as “management by walking around.”  It is a detailed case study from which everyone interested in business and in leadership can learn a very great deal.

Apparently President Obama agrees.  During yesterday’s press conference, Obama praised Romney’s leadership during the Olympics and said there was much to be learned from it.

What impressed me the most was the level of detail.  After reading tons of books depicting ceo’s as royal “deciders in chief” sitting atop a pyramid.  Instead, Romney makes it clear that he got actively involved in the most minute details of the Olympics.

It’s a book I strongly recommend to you.  You can order it here.

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