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Title: The Packer Way : Nine Stepping Stones to Building a Winning Organization by Ron Michael Wolf, Paul Attner, Attner Paul, Green Bay Packers (Football Team) ISBN: 0-312-19312-2 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: November, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (12 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great Packer History and Insights Into Football Management
Comment: Ron Wolf helped pull off one of the greatest turnarounds in sports history in the 1990s in reviving a powerhouse in Green Bay. That is an accomplishment that will long be studied and admired.
If this book were simply billed as a sports history of how the Green Bay Packers were turned around from being a weak franchise into Super Bowl Champions, it would be a five star book. Every football fan will find the book rewarding, and every Packer fan will find essential reading here. The details are there to cherish. The stories are fascinating. The mistakes are openly shared. You feel like you're in the offices of the Packers, agonizing over these same tough choices.
The book unfortunately tries to do a bit more, and falls short -- trying to become of management book of principles that everyone should follow. In fact, putting in the 9 steps pretty much tends to muddy up the Packer history aspect rather than enhance it. There are certainly some good management lessons here: Hire the best; set performance standards and keep them; and be prepared to handle the unexpected. They simply don't add up to enough perspective to be a management guide. You also get very little help in applying the ideas to your own organization, just a summary of the key points in the chapter at the end of each one. I graded the book down one star for its attempt to position itself unsuccessfully as a general management book. If you read it as a football book, rate it five stars as I said above!
Let me return to the football history aspect. I had never understood why Ray Rhodes was hired to replace Mike Holmgren. The chapter at the end explained Ron Wolf's logic very well. Time will tell how good a decision this was.
I was especially impressed with the idea that Wolf has that teams should try to win in the short term while they are adding the personnel to win in the long term. The contrast with the Boston Celtics, where Rick Pitino is full of rebuilding excuses year after year as the team fails to perform, is more than enough to convince me of the wisdom of Wolf's approach.
I also thought that Wolf does a good job of thinking through how you stay on top. I liked his concept of raising standards once you are a champion as a way to help overcome the tendency to rest on one's laurels as free agents scamper off to richer pastures and you have to live with a weak draft.
Good luck in using this book to improve the sports teams in your area! We could have some really great championship games as a result!
Rating: 4
Summary: A book about management, not Packer history
Comment: I've read a number of complaints in previous reviews that Ron Wolf's exposition of his management philosophy in this book "gets in the way" of the history of the Packers of the past decade. Well, here's a clue: this is a book about management which uses the Packers as an example; it is not a history of the Packers. If you read this book, keep that in mind.
That said, the fact that the making of the championship Packer team of 1996 is the example used to explain Wolf's management philosophy does make it more interesting that your run-of-the-mill mangement book.
I've also read some comments from people who don't like the book because they don't like Wolf's style of leadership. Well, different strokes for different folks. Wolf is a tough, hard-nosed, no-nonsense leader, and that may bother some people, particularly those who don't want to pay the price to succeed.
Wolf's legacy as GM of the Packers (he recently announced his retirement from the NFL) is one of success where there had been none for decades. Yet this success did not come easily. This may not appeal to readers who think that fame and fortune can be had without hard work. Such people will not like Wolf's management style and would not like to work for him. If, however, you have the desire to win and achieve, you will appreciate Wolf's description of the manner in which he ran his organization.
Rating: 3
Summary: Enjoyable as a Packer Fan, not as an Aspiring Manager
Comment: I read The Packer Way in about a week, just a little each night before bed. It is a very quick read and frankly is a little light on the management insight.
Now being the Packer Fan that I am, it was quite enjoyable to get a 'behind the scenes' view to decisions made within the football organization, and to hear Ron Wolf's rationale for his decision making.
Some of his insights are very unique and he has no doubt culled his leadership skills from many years of experience. I was very impressed by his frankness regarding his mistakes and past failures. It is not by luck that he got to where he was and took a football organization with him. However, for all intents and purposes this really is more of a high level management philosophy that may or may not transfer to other domains or leadership personalities.
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Title: Understanding Sport Organizations: The Application of Organization Theory by Trevor Slack ISBN: 0873229487 Publisher: Human Kinetics Pub Pub. Date: June, 1997 List Price(USD): $48.00 |
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Title: What It Takes To Be Number #1: Vince Lombardi on Leadership by Vince, Jr. Lombardi ISBN: 0071370609 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 13 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL by Bill Parcells, Will McDonough ISBN: 0688174914 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 05 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss ISBN: 0684870185 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 03 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Run to Win: Vince Lombardi on Coaching and Leadership by Donald T. Phillips ISBN: 0312272987 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: September, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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