Management Practices of Successful CEOs

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” —Peter Drucker

Over a fifty-year career as a psychological consultant to corporate management, James Armatas had long-term relationships with some of the most successful CEOs in America. Among their greatest achievements: the longevity of the companies they led.

With  few exceptions, the companies are still in existence or have been successfully merged or sold at significant gain for their managers and stockholders. This memoir chronicles the performance of more than twenty-five CEOs and their companies, profiles the operational and management models critical to their success, and reveals the idiosyncratic accomplishments of these uniquely American CEOs.

Included are such names and companies as Harold Geneen (ITT), George Strichman (Colt Industries), Harold Hook (National Fidelity Life and General American Insurance), Del Dunmire (Growth Industries), Garry Drummond (Drummond Companies, Inc.), and Dave Noble (American Equity Investment Life).

It’s a study of management and operational practices defined and refined during the unprecedented American business boom following World War Two. Indeed, these managers did things right, while doing the right things.