The Rumsfeld Way: The Leadership Wisdom of a Battle-Hardened Maverick

Follow the finely crafted journey of the politician, turned CEO, turned politician. Learn how the no-nonsense Secretary of Defense applied his standards of excellence to the floundering G.D. Searle Corporation and turned it into a stockholders dream. And you'll be able to recognize how Rummy is applying those same principles as he works as the CEO to the war on terror. Author Jeffrey Krames takes you through four decades in the life of Mr. Rumsfeld. Whether you like the man or not, you will have a much better understanding of where he is coming from when he gives those cut-to-the-bone answers during press conferences. Whether a CEO or a student working part time, the reader will come away motivated and will have a greater understanding of how to succeed in any endeavor. Many great minds have difficulty transitioning from the private to the public sector and vice versa. Rumsfeld did it with ease.

As a writer/author/management researcher I attempt to keep a critcal eye on areas that interest me. I found this book to be a very pleasant surprise. I expected a canned look at a currently high profile person. Instead, I found a straightforward, interesting read about a more complex person than I had assumed existed.The book has an easy to follow flow, is crisply written, and is informative. Watching Rumsfeld in action on the news programs is easy to connect to the background, operating under difficult circumstances, and experiences portrayed in this tightly written book. If your looking for the negative side of Rumsfeld this is not the book. If you want to trace how current leadership style is shaped by background than this will be a quick, educational, and comfortable read that is worth the price of admission.

I find Rumsfeld a fascinating character as do many Americans who saw him in action during the September 11th crisis and thereafter. Therefore, I was interested to read this book and learn more about Rumsfeld. What I found was a book that didn't dwell on gossip or juicy tidbits about Rumsfeld's life, but rather intelligently analyzed and distilled his true leadership qualities. The book helped me learn about myself and what it was that I was responding to in Rumsfeld. It pinpointed his strengths without making him seem saccharine. That ability, to present the best of the leadership qualities but keeping the man life-size, made Rumsfeld real. It also helped me grasp some of the more subtle issues contributing to effective leadership and I think would make an excellent text book on that subject.

For the time-pressed businessman or woman, I found this to be a really fast and interesting and most importantly USEFUL read, with lots of easily adoptable lessons and great ideas on how to lead and be successful. Here's the kicker: Donald Rumsfeld had never run a company before he became CEO of a pharmaceutical company, yet he went in armed with ideas (mapped out in the book) and became hugely successful. I loved this book, and you'll love the "nuggets" at the end of each chapter--leadership ideas that spell success!

Reviewer is the Director of the Center for Career and Leadership Development at Purdue University Calumet, a regional campus of Purdue University located in Northwest Indiana.I don't follow politics very closely. However, I became intrigued with Donald Rumsfeld simply by watching some of his press conferences. So I decided to explore the character a bit further by reading Mr. Krames' book, "The Rumsfeld Way" - and I'm glad I did! The book has some biographical elements in it, which allow the reader to understand Rumsfeld the man. But best of all, the book is loaded with practical tips and tactics used by Rumsfeld the leader. I highly recommend "The Rumsfeld Way" for anyone looking to develop his or her leadership style so that they are highly understood in any situation and well prepared to handle anything that comes their way. In my job, I help college students to develop their leadership abilities and I have used the information presented in Mr. Krames' previous book ("The Jack Welch Lexicon of Leadership") in some of the training classes we conduct. Likewise, I plan to use this new book the same way because my students will be able to relate to its timeliness.