High Standards, Hard Choices: A CEO's Journey of Courage, Risk, and Change

This is a must read, especially for those with the ambition or mission to lead a global corporation. It is an insider's account of many pressures and the difficult work that reinvented U.S. based corporations in the 90s, mostly for the better. Mead's stories ring true to me, the most vivid first hand account I have seen by a CEO in this era. The books about Welch, Gerstner et al are second and third hand accounts.This book is part CEO-memoir and part U.S. economic history (both micro - Tenneco- and macro - influence on Fed and Greenspan). It is written from the rare perspective of a war-tested Army officer, a West Point professor of political economy, national defense and history, a Presidential advisor and an "old economy" corporate executive for 21 years.I worked in two large American companies in the 70s and early 80s. A leader of above-average competence could be reasonably successful then. Not so in the late 80s and 90s. The game changed dramatically. Even "old economy" companies were ripping out costs, improving quality and innovating to keep pace in unforgivingly intense global markets. The CEOs who were not pushing to lead, were taking their companies on the path to oblivion.CEOs have to drive for quarterly earnings, even as they restructure their businesses, acquire, divest and expand into uncertain markets overseas. Mead juggled these pressures at Tenneco, during and after the brain cancer fight that ultimately claimed the life of his friend and charismatic predecessor, Mike Walsh.Mead's book is organized as an anthology, a set of narratives, that demonstrates the full range and complexity of issues facing CEOs in the 90s. Walsh's unusually public struggle with cancer was probably the biggest challenge for Mead. Restructuring Case Corp. cost nearly $ 1 billion, but it set that machinery company on its way to consistent profitability. Tenneco's struggle to establish a profitable forest products business in Romania shows the allure, risks and countless obstacles of doing business in emerging markets. A high stakes political battle in Congress pitted Tenneco against its largest customer, the U.S. Navy.I knew of these struggles somewhat, as an outsider with several high level contacts at Tenneco headquarters. Mead paints the context, makes connections and draws conclusions that will vex his adversaries. Effective CEOs don't win popularity contests. They formulate and lead fundamental changes that roil the status quo. At Tenneco Mead often roiled the status quo - inside and outside the company.He planned and carried out dozens of deals to take apart the old conglomerate. Faltering earnings in 97 and 98 dashed his plans to create a new one. Even so, Mead and his executives molded what today are seven companies - several of which have merged with rivals after moving away from Tenneco's blue shield.Mead's final chapter provides a very thoughtful summary of the rigorous reorganization of Corporate America -