Saturday, September 01, 2012

The Mormon Way of Doing Business

I recently read The Mormon Way of Doing Business: How Nine Western Boys Reached the Top of Corporate America by Jeff Benedict. The book was written in 2007 and was a discussion of the lives and habits of 9 prominent Mormon businessmen. The men discussed are David Neeleman, founder and CEO of JetBlue Airways; Kevin Rollins, former CEO of Dell; Jim Quigley, CEO of Deloitte-Touche USA; Dave Checketts, former CEO of Madison Square Garden Corporation; Gary Crittenden, CFO at American Express; Rod Hawes, founder and former CEO of Life Re Corporation; Kim Clark, former Dean of the Harvard Business School; and Clayton Christensen, leading Harvard Business professor and consultant to major corporations.

And of course Mitt Romney - founder of Bain Capital and current Republican nominee for President of the United States. The chapter for Mitt Romney was added and the book was re-issued to take advantage of the connection. You would think that the re-issue was a little cynical until it gets pointed out that Kevin Rollins, former CEO of Dell; Dave Checkett, former CEO of Madison Garden Corp.; and Gary Crittenden, CFO for American Express - all got their starts in business as consultants at Bain.

Frankly - I'm surprised that these business leaders haven't been more outspoken for Mitt Romney. Of course Staples is probably Mitt's biggest success story (outside Bain Capital itself) and make no mistake - Mitt Romney was very involved in the founding and success of Staples.

Also - here's a must see video of author Jeff Benedict discussing the book and Mitt Romney from back in April.