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Business people --- don your suits, pick up your briefcases and laptops and prepare to
fight. That could be battle cry for graduates of the Harvard Business School's Advanced
Management Program (AMP) and for readers of the book that explains the program, EXTREME
MANAGEMENT: What They Teach at Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.
AMP is a military brat. It was born during World War II to help the U. S. military
commanders gain advantage over war enemies. So, what's good for the military must be good
for business. Why reserve the lessons only for intermittent wars? Put 'em to work daily in
the business world.
The course, according to the book's author Mark Stevens, is an exhausting 10-week
"boot camp" (or wing tip camp). Each week lasts six days, each day last 14
hours, and at the end, managers are armed with the tools to fight and win in a global and
hostile marketplace. (No doubt, the book is much easier than the course itself.) Students
learn how to create a sustainable, competitive advantage, establish brand and corporate
positioning, negotiate global transactions, and master conflict.
The book is not a textbook. Far from it. And that might annoy those readers searching for
a step-by-step or week-by-week course in AMP. Stevens, who wrote SUDDEN DEATH: The Rise
and Fall of E. F. Hutton, does share what a typical day looks like at the camp and a
breakdown of what's covered week to week, but the chronological timeline ends there. The
lessons are presented, just not in a typical form. Stevens imports lessons from the
program's alumni (corporate executives) and some of the program's faculty via examples,
anecdotes, essays, and question and answer interviews. And lessons slowly emerge on
decision making, work models, finance, teamwork, strategic perspectives, and visioning
exercises designed to separate exceptional managers from mediocre ones.
Stevens has tapped some of commerce's top minds. Among them Jack Welch, General Electric's
CEO; David Packard of Hewlett-Packard; and Bill Gates of Microsoft. Stevens also tosses in
some lucid examples of management from clear industry leaders, such as AT&T, BMW, and
Taco Bell.
Thankfully, there are only a couple of business equations (and they aren't difficult to
follow) and very few military metaphors, which would surely prove tiring over the course
of the book. Some might expect that because this course was originally created for
hard-line military leaders, that the management lessons may be more callused. Ironically,
though, managers who finish AMP adopt a kinder, gentler management style. Alumni shed
their authoritarian and micromanaging approaches and take on a warmer managerial method
that yields a softer side. Managers become more of an information source and less ornery.
This results in friendlier subordinates who follow the lead and work harder. One manager,
whose employees were trying to start a union, walked away realizing he wasn't always the
expert. He reflected on the AMP lessons and, instead of firing the union supporters, he
hired a labor lawyer.
It's tough to boil down the 166 pages into one portable lesson, but Stevens does say,
"He who knows the most, and continues to learn the most, wins." And there's
plenty learn here from many who've fought in the trenches.
--- Reviewed by Doug McPherson
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