Syed Nadeem Ahsan is impressed by the answers to a number of questions in a work he thinks is seminal for individuals aspiring to management careers

WINNING, the international best seller by Jack with Suzy Welch, is an astounding masterpiece drawing on Jack Welch's decades of experience in business administration. It talks about business and work in such nitty gritty details that no other management book ever published comes close to being compared. In fact, Winning unlocked this flood of questions as students and professionals poured their hearts out with questions on subjects ranging from leadership, global competition, building teamwork, on tough bosses and even careers. In the book, Winning: The Answers, Jack and Suzy Welch set out to answer seventy-four of the more relevant of these questions.

The book covers almost every single question that may arise in a person's mind, whether studying, or already in the workforce. It vividly throws light on some of the

issues that every single one of us has sometime or the other has had to grapple with. It really serves as a mentor for those of us who have not been lucky enough to seek out that “perfect mentor/s”. What makes the reading so much wonderful is not the fact that it revolves around the experience of one of the greatest business leaders of our times. It is rather the candour and simplicity of the answers to questions which oftentimes a person growing up in the business world may have given up as having no solutions at all. It makes very insightful and in-depth reading with the chapters organized around areas that are crucial for any business.

The topics are quite appropriately divided into six sections, under the headings of Global Competition, Leadership, Management Principles and Practices, Careers, Privately Held and Winning and Losing. Global

competition is something that has touched even the most conservative of companies today. As a result, management professionals and students all over the world have hundreds of queries on global competition. In this section, Welch gives his perspective on burning issues like whether to go into China or on growing fears of China tearing your business down in your own country. Then comes one of the most interesting and elusive of all concepts, Leadership. It begins with the age old question of whether leaders are born or made. Then it goes on to discuss such issues as what to do when you suddenly find yourself thrust in to lead a team, the pros and cons on being a tough boss or working for one. Building trust and overcoming resistance to change. Then the chapter shifts on to the more orthodox business practices relating to management principles and practices. This section talks about getting the right people on board. Welch's hallmark candour in everything from talking to subordinates to your boss, to hand it out straight from the beginning so that there are no surprises for either party in the end, is remarkable. A piece on the real job of HR which everyone in the world seems to be either not empowered with or not doing what he or she is actually supposed to do. Another interesting perspective is on the usefulness of hiring consultants for the company as they seem to affect employees as well as employers and always raise questions of the consultants' effectiveness as well.

The last three sections talk about careers, family owned businesses and what winning and losing mean. Some light is thrown on whether an MBA is a must. Or do people with MBAs wield an unfair advantage over others? In family owned businesses, being an outsider and whether you are ready to give it all you have got, knowing someone from the family will get the raise perhaps without doing anything at all, is an interesting question. Lastly, what is winning? It certainly is not making a huge pile of money. It is different for different people. It can be dedicating your life for the disadvantaged, basically doing something that lights up your heart. It really doesn't have to be about becoming a CEO.

All in all, it is a wonderful, purposeful read. It can be treated as an individual read and not as a sequel to the first Winning. It does answer questions that all of us have asked ourselves at one time or the other in our lives.

Syed Nadeem Ahsan writes from Washington DC, USA.