Icons and Idiots

April 8, 2013
Auto industry veteran Lutz (Car Guys and Bean Counters) held senior leadership positions at four of the world’s top automakers, including a stint as vice-chairman of General Motors. Here, he offers a fresh twist on leadership lessons, drawing on the positive and negative examples of real-life leaders he encountered over 47 years in the car business. In concise, snappy, often hilarious chapters, Lutz profiles household names like Lee Iacocca and well-known CEOs like Bob Eaton, who ran Chrysler, but most chapters are devoted to rank and lesser known executives he served under throughout his career, including Eberhard Von Kuenheim, who went on to “transform BMW from a tiny, regional auto company into a global luxury-car powerhouse.” Lutz’s experiences in the auto industry will delight car lovers, but even the uninitiated will likely be amused by his lively prose. His vivid attention to detail brings each leader to life, illustrating his or her individual complexities with stories of foibles, political incorrectness, and praiseworthy moments that will draw sighs of recognition from readers who have worked in hierarchical corporations large or small. Agent: Wes Neff, LeighCo Inc.

May 1, 2013
Lutz (Car Guys vs. Bean Counters, 2011) spent 47 years in the car industry, working for iconic automakers GM, Ford, Chrysler, and BMW. In his career, he witnessed leadership personalities from the admirable to the buffoonish. But he goes beyond his car career to offer a disparate collection of portraits of leaders, from his high-school teacher and marine drill instructor to Lee Iacocca, CEO of Chrysler. Most leaders are mentally and emotionally askew, he asserts as he portrays the men (they're all men) he worked with or under as demanding, often offensive, brutally honest, and sometimes borderline cruel. He remembers Iacocca as an insecure man threatened by subordinates; another auto executive seems to fit the idiot portion of the title. Still, Lutz finds some leadership qualities, or at least cautionary examples of what not to do, in each of his subjects. And it seems to be the point of these entertaining, insightful behind-the-scenes tales of corporate culture that, while leadership can come in all kinds of quirky packages, the greatest benefit lies in the lasting impact it has on the people who work for himor her.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)