The Packer Way: Nine Stepping Stones to Building a Winning Organization

While the main plot of this book is the remarkable rebuilding of the once great Green Bay Packers by the team's executive vice-president Wolf in the mid '90s, Wolf and Sporting News senior writer Attner (The Fat Lady Sings) have created a management guide wrapped in a case study wrapped in an epic sports saga. Most of the ideas covered could be applied to almost any business or personal goal. While there is little new in this book as a management how-to--his ""Nine Stepping Stones to Building a Winning Organization"" (""Hire the Best--Before Anyone Else Does""; ""Develop an Obsession with Winning""; etc.) touch on themes we've heard from such business gurus as Tom Peters or Peter Drucker--the light writing style and story of the Packers' comeback is well and cogently told and will engage football fans and foes alike. Illustrations from other industries help prevent this from being a book about building a football team, but we get glimpses of stars like Brett Favre and revealing, behind-the-scenes dealmaking in the NFL. (Dec.)