Maximum Leadership

For people who wonder what the CEOs of the world's largest corporations do to earn their multimillion-dollar salaries--and for those who would walk in their footsteps--here is an inside glimpse of life at the top. Farkas and De Backer, directors of an international consulting firm, trekked across North America, Europe and Japan, interviewing the heads of 157 multinational companies to learn how they define their jobs and what they do with their time. They found that those high-ranking macro-managers are expected to add discernible value to their companies and deliver consistently or get out. They work in distinct ways the authors have narrowed to five strategies. Stories told by the CEOs (how Ogilvy & Mather manages IBM's worldwide advertising, for instance) paint vivid pictures of the companies and their leaders. 75,000 first printing. (Jan.)