Quality and Me: Lessons from an Evolving Life Hardcover - 1999

From the rear cover

Hailed by Time magazine as the "leading evangelist of quality," Philip Crosby has emerged as one of the century's greatest management thinkers. Now, in this autobiography, the person most responsible for the quality revolution in American business shares the ideas and insights he's gathered over the course of an eventful, forty-year career. A talented storyteller, Crosby recounts his years as vice president of ITT, his working relationship with the legAndary Harold Geneen, and the launch--and re-launch--of his own consulting practice. Quality and Me is an intimate, informative portrait of the man who changed the way quality management is practiced today.

From the jacket flap

One of the nation's most influential management consultants, Philip Crosby founded the movement that awakened American business to the importance of quality management. This autobiography spans forty years of his fascinating career. Beginning with an early stint in the U.S. Navy, Crosby recounts his rise from junior engineer to vice president of the ITT Corporation, the world's first major conglomerate. He recalls his working relationship with the legAndary Harold Geneen and relates the events behind the creation, and later the re-creation, of his own consulting firm.But this is more than just a personal history. Crosby, who is renowned for making the concepts of quality accessible to millions of managers around the world, combines tales from his career with specific insights into the theories and practices that made him one of America's most influential businessmen. In each chapter he summarizes the most important learning points from each stage of his career. These learning points are collected for easy reference in the concluding chapter, "Guidelines for Browsers."Written in a style that is at once homespun and profound, this book presents for the first time an intimate retrospective of the career of a true management icon. And Crosby's story isn't over yet. Several years ago, he bought back his consulting firm, re-christened it, and turned it into a $20-million operation serving client companies worldwide. And so his story continues. But here and now, executives, managers, and business students will find a wealth of wisdom and practical advice in his absorbing account of a life's worth of successes, setbacks, and lessons learned.

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Citations

• Ingram PTR, 07/01/1999, Page 12