How Big Bosses Should Write Their Memoirs

Business leaders are far from the most natural writers in the world. They do not rise to the top without a sharp ambition, a character trait that rarely leads to literary reflection. To be successful, they must calm their outspokenness and master the corporate language. They need neither fame nor money – unlike writers who, for the most part, suffer these pangs.

“Business leaders. To succeed, must calm their outspokenness and master the corporate language. When they write, as one editor admits, we “often cry thinking of trees”

And when they write, as one editor admits, we “often cry thinking of trees”. Just think of Jack Welch's hymn to great leadership (his own, actually) via his book 'Winning'. Here is his “first pearl of wisdom”: “Winning in business is great because when businesses win, people prosper and grow.”

A literary genre full of assets

It is therefore with some apprehension that your columnist celebrates the rise of a genre that makes most book lovers shudder: CEO memoirs. This literary genre has, it is true, its shortcomings. The perpetrators are mostly white, male, and from a middle-class background. They are neither Hemingways nor Dostoevskys. There's no sex or drugs, just rock & roll – and that's mid-range again. And since they have the means to afford the best pen-readers, it is difficult to know what their real share of work is.

“This type of book has many advantages, especially when the authors are founders of successful companies who, by definition, have mastered the art of telling a good story”

That said, this type of book has many advantages, especially when the authors are founders of successful companies who, by definition, have mastered the art of telling a good story. [...]