Tales from the Top: 10 Crucial Questions from the World's #1 Executive Coach

Though Alexander's ""ten crucial questions"" aren't revolutionary-""What's life all about for you?"" ""Would you do anything differently if you knew you had only a year to live?"" ""Are you running your business or is it running you?""-he makes the usual threadbare management cliches (""Treat your customers like royalty"") say something new by avoiding the hyperbolic vigor common to American business writing, instead employing a dry style that can verge dangerously close to sarcasm: ""Many business leaders find focusing on what is truly important difficult, because doing is so much easier than thinking."" Alexander also pinpoints the major drivers of business dysfunctionality: fear, frenetic busyness, arrogance and ignorance. His solutions are quite sensible: write down the one thing that scares you most about your current situation; do three things a day that only you can do really well to uniquely help the business; don't guess what your customer wants. Though the advice sounds practical enough, the real-world results Alexander has achieved aren't quantified in this book, and the CEOs Alexander has coached aren't named. Still, Alexander has written the rare palatable guide to executive coaching.