DOING WHAT MATTERS: THE REVOLUTIONARY OLD-SCHOOL APPROACH TO BUSINESS

When Warren Buffett was asked why the Gillette board of directors chose Jim Kilts to be CEO, he said, "Jim made as much sense in terms of talking about business as anybody I´ve ever talked to. If you listen to Jim analyze a business situation you get absolutely no baloney. And, frankly, finding someone like that is a rarity." There is only one CEO in recent times who has faced-and succeeded at-the extraordinary challenges of leading three major companies-Gillette, Nabisco, and Kraft-into prosperous futures by doing what matters on the fundamentals. That CEO is Jim Kilts. In this vivid first-person account he reveals his system for success that is both cutting-edge and back-to-basics. Doing What Matters-the action plan for identifying and tackling what´s important and ignoring the rest-is the key to winning in a warp-speed world where the need for revolutionary speed and decisiveness increases by the day. Kilts illustrates his ideas with colorful stories, such as "that little red razor." A new product idea he proposed early on at Gillette, it was initially shelved because "everyone knew you couldn´t sell a red razor," but went on to become one of Gillette´s biggest marketing successes ever. Jim Kilts´s focus on both business fundamentals and personal attributes provides the "complete package," showing how to get results that make a difference through: