My Years with General Motors

By: Alfred P. Sloan Jr.

Narrated by: David Colacci

Length: 21 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

My Years with General Motors became an instant best seller when it was first published in 1963. It has since been used as a manual for managers, offering personal glimpses into the practice of the "discipline of management" by the man who perfected it. This is the story no other businessman could tell - a distillation of half a century of intimate leadership experience with a giant industry and an inside look at dramatic events and creative business management.  

Only a handful of business books have reached the status of a classic, having withstood the test of more than 50 years' time. Even today, Bill Gates praises My Years with General Motors as the best book to read on business, and Business Week has named it the number one choice for its "bookshelf of indispensable reading".

©1963; 1990 Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.; Introduction copyright by Peter F. Drucker (P)2019 HighBridge Company

Interesting read

Sloan takes the reader through how GM developed systems for dealing with organizational opportunities faced during his tenure. Have read about 100 biographies and this stands out because of how ubiquitous much of his reasoning has become for large corporations. While sometimes a bit dry, the content is quite strong and has stood the test of time well. Feel a lot of insights were gained in the reading.

I wish it were longer

This is well known as an essential (but frankly aged and in some ways quite obsolete) management treatise, but I'm not sure that's why I personally find it so great. At this point in time, it may actually function better as an insider's reflections on the early days of the auto industry, but there is something about ghost writer John McDonald's prose that captures the essentially 19th century nature of Sloan that is just captivating. A fundamentally heartless man (he had an adding machine where that organ is supposed to be) is somehow rendered as a far more complete individual, despite his relentless focus on business, business, business to the exclusion of virtually everything else. It's quite a literary trick. I've listened to the recording half a dozen times and still find it remarkably engaging. The early chapters about how Durant went out and Dupont/Sloan came in are riveting drama. David Colacci is the perfect narrator for this material. If you find this book valuable, engaging or both, read John McDonald's "A Ghost's Memoir," about the rather incredible lawsuit that led to its publication years after it was finished, over the dead bodies of GM lawyers that were sure it would lead to an anti-trust conviction.

heavy policy content

mainly fine business details. the book goes pretty deep into policy detail. there are a few interesting stories throughout though

Tough reading, scattered insights

Book with a lot of lessons spanning an incredible period of industrialism. The semi autobiographical format makes the volume hard to swallow but after digesting some details, there's much to be gained in terms of understanding the GM management model.

Maybe it is just not my type of book

I have a very good friend on her 70’s that recommended me this book as a master piece for business, so I guess it might me so, but for me I didn’t enjoy it, nor I was able to listen all of it, I had to skip chapter by chapter until I just preferred to put it as if I have read it all because it wasn’t my type of book.

I wish I read this book before I decided to not get my MBA

Outstanding. After 4O years in the “corporate world” this book threads everything together. Read this Book!

Classic management book and historical insights into the formation of the auto industry.

Sloan is a great writer and provides valuable insights into the formation of the ziti industry and GM. Hard to believe but GM sold more cars in the US in 1920 than Tesla did using robotics in 2020, 100 years later. If you’ve never heard of Charles Kettering you will live his genius as told by Sloan.

Very insightful

It is a great look behind the scenes of General Motors from the beginning and how what they did lead the industry to where it is today

Fascinating

Fascinating history of GM, the auto industry, and the management of large organizations. Should be required reading for all current and future business executives.

Great history of the US auto industry

I’d heard this was an important book on management. I found that to be true. So many examples of innovating in an unknown field; I never even thought about the issues he faced...most challenges he faced are things we’ve long taken for granted. Some chapters were a little dry and I sympathized with the narrator at times. But overall a good book that will make you think about the field of organizational management and force you to ask yourself, “What would I have done?”