Book Review: 1/5 Impact On Me (Book By Larry Bossidy)
Read more about the book here.
I did not like this book. It relies too much on anecdotal examples of past successes to argue that the processes leading to those successes were correct. Based on my understanding of Nassim Taleb's books, I see this differently. The connection between processes and outcomes is not as straightforward, especially in the complex business world. When looking back, it’s easy to cherry-pick actions that seem effective for selected results rather than analyzing all actions across companies in a thorough, quantitative way to determine what works best.
This book falls short compared to Good Strategy Bad Strategy (While that book also uses anecdotal examples, it provided useful frameworks that made it more practical and insightful). I also did not appreciate this book’s heavy reliance on examples from Jack Welch. I disliked his biography, and how he ran General Electric has faced significant criticism in recent years.
Some of the book’s recommendations, like identifying “high-potential” people, feel outdated and flawed. Nine Lies About Work explains why this belief is misleading.
I agree with the book’s main premise: strategies and ideas alone are not enough—you need strong execution. This aligns with the common startup saying that "ideas are a dime a dozen."
I appreciated the book’s emphasis on doing background checks before hiring and understanding organizational competencies before determining if a strategy can succeed. This point reminded me of the 3C framework: customers, company, and competitors.
Overall, this book had a 1 out of 5 impact on me.