Doing What Matters

How to Get Results That Make a Difference-The Revolutionary Old-Fashioned Approach

By: James M. Kilts, John F. Manfredi, Robert L. Lorber

Narrated by: Marc Cashman

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. His focus on both business fundamentals and personal attributes provides the “complete package,” showing how to get results that make a difference through: intellectual integrity, generating emotional engagement and enthusiasm, action, and understanding the right things through an overarching concept. Whether you’re CEO of a multibillion-dollar global company, the brand manager for a product, an entrepreneur starting a small business, or just beginning a career, DOING WHAT MATTERS provides the practical ideas that get results.©2007 James M. Kilts; (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Jim Kilts transformed Gillette. Before his arrival, the company was a study in self-deception. Great brands were being mishandled, operational and financial discipline was non-existent and fanciful promises to investors were standard practice. In record time, Jim excised these business pathogens. I've learned much from Jim. So, too, will readers of this book."
--Warren E. Buffett

"Doing What Matters is an insightful and practical approach to business by a transformative leader with a great track record of success."

--Jack Welch
Jack Welch, LLC

Jim Kilts is a proven wizard at making companies run.
--Wall Street Journal

Everything matters and Gilette is the best

The book contains some interesting anecdotes and I appreciated the author's take on leadership and some of the frameworks he's using - and he's clearly an accomplished leader.

That said, the book does sound like an ad for the company, a lot of time is spent on enumerating in excruciating detail how they're awesome.

By the end of the book it also looks like everything matters, and it might have been shorter to just enumerate what doesn't matter.