Sloan Rules

Alfred P. Sloan Jr. became the president of General Motors in 1923 and stepped down as its CEO in 1946. During this time, he led GM past the Ford Motor Company and on to international business triumph by virtue of his brilliant managerial practices and his insights into the new consumer economy he and GM helped to produce. Bill Gates has said that Sloan's 1964 management tome, My Years with General Motors, "is probably the best book to read if you want to read only one book about business." And if you want to read only one book about Sloan, that book should be historian David Farber's Sloan Rules. Here, for the first time, is a study of both the difficult man and the pathbreaking executive. Sloan Rules reveals the GM genius as not only a driven manager of men, machines, money, and markets but also a passionate and not always wise participant in the great events of his day. Sloan, for example, reviled Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal; he firmly believed that politicians, government bureaucrats, and union leaders knew next to nothing about the workings of the new consumer economy, and he did his best to stop them from intervening in the private enterprise system. He was instrumental in transforming GM from the country's largest producer of cars into the mainstay of America's "Arsenal of Democracy" during World War II; after the war, he bet GM's future on renewed American prosperity and helped lead the country into a period of economic abundance. Through his business genius, his sometimes myopic social vision, and his vast fortune, Sloan was an architect of the corporate-dominated global society we live in today. David Farber's story of America's first corporate genius is biography of the highest order, a portrait of an extraordinarily compelling and skillful man who shaped his era and ours.

Alone after birth, Sloan lived in an Orphanage until he was sixteen. He worked as a security officer at the local college. He was allowed to live on his own as long as he finished High School, and was able to maintain his job. At the age of eighteen Sloan graduated High School with just above average marks and also received a promotion to Chief of Security. Due to his job at the University he was able to attend classes for free, and Sloan made good use of this opportunity. For four years he attended Law Enforcement related classes along with a few extracurricular activities. He seemed to have found his calling, for in this field he excelled greatly. After gaining several degrees, he went to work for the City’s Police Department. Within five years Sloan became a detective after a promotion to sergeant, and for two years his arrest record was second to none. It was this record that kept him on the force after his tactics suffered a turn from the book. The cause of the turn was how crime was engulfing the city, which had given him so much.

This book is a tribute to Professor Ian Hugh Sloan on the occasion of his 80th birthday. It consists of nearly 60 articles written by international leaders in a diverse range of areas in contemporary computational mathematics. These papers highlight the impact and many achievements of Professor Sloan in his distinguished academic career. The book also presents state of the art knowledge in many computational fields such as quasi-Monte Carlo and Monte Carlo methods for multivariate integration, multi-level methods, finite element methods, uncertainty quantification, spherical designs and integration on the sphere, approximation and interpolation of multivariate functions, oscillatory integrals, and in general in information-based complexity and tractability, as well as in a range of other topics. The book also tells the life story of the renowned mathematician, family man, colleague and friend, who has been an inspiration to many of us. The reader may especially enjoy the story from the perspective of his family, his wife, his daughter and son, as well as grandchildren, who share their views of Ian. The clear message of the book is that Ian H. Sloan has been a role model in science and life.

He invented corporate management, pioneered modern marketing, and led General Motors to industrial dominance for half a century. But Alfred P. Sloan portrayed himself as a one-dimensional workaholic. Don't take him at his word, this brief eBook argues, but learn from his example. Specifically, he questioned conventional wisdom, made his company his first duty, understood that integrity and character matter more than charisma and showmanship, and welcomed disagreement.

This two-volume collection looks at the life and work of Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. (1875-1966), chief executive of General Motors from 1923 to 1946, whose unique and ahead-of-its-time management style left an indelible mark on business and management studies.Also featuring an extensive bibliography, this set will prove valuable to business students and researchers alike.

Here, from Ric Merrifield, author of Rethink, are the inspiring stories of five men and women - Henry Ford, Reed Hastings, Alfred Sloan, Sam Walton, and Oprah Winfrey - and their practical, time-tested lessons for everyone who aims to lead.

He invented corporate management, discovered modern marketing, and led General Motors to industrial dominance for half a century. But Alfred P. Sloan portrayed himself as a one-dimensional workaholic. Don’t take him at his word, but learn from his example. Specifically, he questioned conventional wisdom, made his company his first duty, understood that integrity and character matter more than charisma and showmanship, and welcomed disagreement. He was an undisputed titan of industry. He outsmarted the legendary Henry Ford, invented the modern system of marketing, created the very concept of corporate management, and built General Motors into the world’s most successful industrial enterprise. Sloan was an intensely private man whose deep friendships, flashes of wit, personal generosity, and vast public philanthropy all invite closer inspection--and then defy it. If there are no full-scale biographies of him, that’s the way he wanted it: He burned most of his personal papers, and after he died GM destroyed most of what remained. Childless, formal, and reserved, he had no time for parties, culture, sports, or literature. He was “Mr. Sloan” even to close friends. But fleeting glints of a more human man keep breaking through the gray flannel--and if GM had kept following Sloan’s real principles, it might not have gone bankrupt. Let’s see what we can learn from his story. New Word City, publishers of digital originals, contributes 10 percent of its profits to literacy causes.

Outlines an approach to high-performance problem solving and decision making that draws on insights from survival guides, pop culture, and other sources.