About the Author

Neil Giarratana spent 32 years as a CEO in diverse industries, including cosmetics, toys, leather goods, and durable goods manufacturing. As the senior executive, he managed companies both in Europe (he is fluent in German and French) and the United States. He holds a BA in international relations from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Neil currently resides in the Chicago area.

Reviews

"Neil Giarratana provides real-world advice for CEO survival based upon more than 30 years experience as a CEO. He weaves humor and irony into many of his critical insights and recommendations--never losing sight of an important central premise for CEO success: the intertwining of toughness and caring in the leadership of a company and its employees."
--Alan Hassenfeld, chairman of the executive committee, Hasbro, Inc. "Neil Giarratana has written an insightful and compelling book, going beyond the usual rhetoric and generalities to provide an incoming or up-and-coming CEO with a granular and actionable blueprint for settling in, setting new strategies, and changing old patterns and cultures. Neil has lived for decades at the face of the CEO coal mine and provides realistic and practical advice for handling
the messy, day-to-day challenges that CEOs actually face."
--Stephen P. Kaufman, senior lecturer, Harvard Business School, and retired CEO and chairman, Arrow Electronics, Inc. "A truly unique book on business leadership because it addresses thecritical, practical, and behavioral issues you will face as a leader which are not part of any business theory, model, book, or journal nor covered in leading MBA programs."
--Fred Steingraber, chairman and CEO emeritus of A.T. Kearney-- "Reviews"