What the CEO Wants You to Know : How Your Company Really Works

Often I hear people say "anyone can do business, it's just common sense." So why do we have so many failing companies? Dr. Charan answered so many of the questions of why people screw up in the business world. He combined parts of "common sense business" (profit margin, velocity, growth, customers, etc.) into a concept he refers to as Business Acumen. Many businessmen tend to focus on a select few of these important aspects of business, and the others sneak up on them and result in massive profit loss or bankruptcy.

As a business major, not yet full-force in the business field, it inspired me to work hard and be the best in whatever job I do. I have both corporate and management experience, yet I still feel like work up until I've read this book has been meaningless. The book has inspired me to take part in every job I do, no matter how much the job seems to lack direction. It makes you strive to be the best, and to be noticed by your successors. It's a great book for a novice businessman like myself. GREAT READ!!!!!

mr charan understnads and explains how profit works for companies and he understands why certain workers work really well in an environment and then fail in another.

Ram Charan cuts right to the chase in this book. It's a short one, but it's packed with goodies. Charan explains the keys to making money and increasing wealth: 1) Business Acumen (the main components being cash generation, margin, velocity, return on assets, growth, and focus on the customer) and 2) Getting things done (which includes selecting the right people, increasing their capacity, and linking their efforts to a core set of business goals - developed using business acumen). Sounds simple, right? Frankly, it is. It's a no-nonsense explanation of what all managers, and all employees ought to know about business to enable them to gauge the performance of their company/organization/group, and put practical achievable plans in place to improve it.

Nick McCormick - Author, Lead Well and Prosper

This book can be read in several hours and is definitely worth of the invested time. I am a total beginner in business, In fact, I study informatics. After reading this book I have a clear view of basic aspects of business. Also, it gave me a more clear understanging of what is a CEO's role.
let's summarize my thoughts:
+simple
+short (less then 130 little pages)
+gives a great overview of core business aspects
+good for beginners (contains even links to popular business web sites)

-focused on employees in a leader position
-focused on international (stock) companies. (I work at software companies, can't see, how could I apply the velocity principle here. We have no shareholders, no transparent assests, nor stock, nor transparent margins)
-quite repetitive. The word 'business acumen' is listed at least one hundred times. Some may find the repetition usefull...especially me not



p.s.: I've found this book on the recommended list of PersonalMBA (personalmba.com)

Yes, it's a small book already but I thought the author could have got to the points sooner with a little less prose and more advise. I can see that he did a lot of work and is obviously an intelligent person it just as another reviewer put it "the book does not deliver on what the title suggests".
It's worth a read on a long airplane ride but not worth setting your career by.