John Meriwether, a famously successful Wall Street trader,spent the 1980s as a partner at Salomon Brothers, establishing thebest--and the brainiest--bond arbitrage group in the world. Amysterious and shy midwesterner, he knitted together a group ofPh.D.-certified arbitrageurs who rewarded him with filial devotionand fabulous profits. Then, in 1991, in the wake of a scandalinvolving one of his traders, Meriwether abruptly resigned. For twoyears, his fiercely loyal team--convinced that the chief had beenunfairly victimized--plotted their boss's return. Then, in 1993,Meriwether made a historic offer. He gathered together his formerdisciples and a handful of supereconomists from academia andproposed that they become partners in a new hedge fund differentfrom any Wall Street had ever seen. And so Long-Term CapitalManagement was born. In a decade that had seen the longest and most rewarding bullmarket in history, hedge funds were the ne plus ultra ofinvestments: discreet, private clubs limited to those
In this absorbing tale, you watch the timeless principles ofservant leadership unfold through the story of John Daily, abusinessman whose outwardly successful life is spiraling out ofcontrol. He is failing miserably in each of his leadership roles asboss, husband, father, and coach. To get his life back on track, hereluctantly attends a weeklong leadership retreat at a remoteBenedictine monastery. To John's surprise, the monk leading the seminar is a formerbusiness executive and Wall Street legend. Taking John under hiswing, the monk guides him to a realization that is simple yetprofound: The true foundation of leadership is not power, butauthority, which is built upon relationships, love, service, andsacrifice. Along with John, you will learn that the principles in this bookare neither new nor complex. They don't demand special talents;they are simply based on strengthening the bonds of respect,responsibility, and caring with the people around you. Perhaps thisis why The Servant has touche
The annual budgeting process is a trap. Pressured by fixedtargets and performance incentives, managers focus on making thenumbers instead of making a difference, meeting set goals insteadof maximizing potential. With their compensation at stake, managersoften resort to deceitful-even unethical-behavior. In the end,everybody loses-the employee, the company, and ultimately thecustomer.Now, finance experts Jeremy Hope and Robin Fraser revealthe results of an intensive study aimed at fixing the brokenbudgeting process. They argue that companies must abandontraditional budgeting contracts in favor of a radical new modelthat links performance measurement to evolving competitivebenchmarks-and shifts the firm's focus from controlling employeebehavior to delivering customer value. The Beyond Budgeting modelis built on the best practices of companies that have successfullyrevised their centralized planning and budgeting processes. Itcombines a leadership vision that devolves more authority tooperating managers a