cover image Confessions of a Street-Smart Manager

Confessions of a Street-Smart Manager

David Mahoney. Simon & Schuster, $17.45 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-62536-8

Street smartsa combination of shrewdness, drive and determinationaccording to Mahoney, were responsible for his ascent to the top of the Good Humor Corporation and to the position of CEO of Norton Simon's vast operations via stints in the advertising business and Colgate-Palmolive. In this candid, entertaining account written with freelancer Conarroe, he lists 10 ""commandments,'' as well as various management techniques and tricks. The triumphsand occasional mistakes, mostly of omissionof Mahoney's career have involved not only business dealings and his role as adviser to five U.S. presidents, but building an extensive network of influential friends and directorship of philanthropies. The successful manager, he maintains, must have the ability to take both risks and responsibility for results. As an investor, he frowns on speculation and is wary of experts in any field. Above all, Mahoney stresses, one should enjoy what one is doing. (January 18)