The Benevolent Dictator: Empower Your Employees, Build Your Business, and Outwit the Competition [Hardcover]

Michael Feuer's new book, The Benevolent Dictator landed on my desk at exactly the right moment--two months into the launch of my own business enterprise! So as you can imagine, I dove into the book eager to mine some valuable nuggets of wisdom from the mind of a talented entrepreneur who was able to take OfficeMax from very humble beginnings up to its sales in 2003 for $1.5 billion.

Although the book is full of great insights worthy of study and application, the most important take-away for me relates to the role of the entrepreneur as a Benevolent Dictator. Feuer makes it clear that there is no secret sauce; no magic recipe; nor any single piece of sexy advice guaranteed to take your business to dizzying heights of success. Instead, Feuer insists that it comes down to something really simple (though not easy): devising a smart and detailed strategy, and executing that strategy relentlessly.

Execution, however, requires discipline and a stubborn focus on setting goals and minding the details. The occasional cracking of the whip comes with the territory. But that doesn't make Feuer a bad guy at all. His heavy hand is always guided by a benevolent sense of service, to customers and employees alike, and by the humility to recognize that he doesn't have all the answers and that the people in his organization are partners who deserve a say in how things are run.

For me, it's great to see a CEO who is at once strong and assertive, but humble enough to encourage his people to come up with ideas, and to challenge his own when they disagree.

Feuer has organized his thoughts on business into 40 lessons divided among the "four phases" of an entrepreneurial enterprise: (1) Start-up (2) Build Out and Put the Idea to the test (3) Constant Reinvention and (4) The Payday. Although the phases are not fully fleshed out, and while some of the lessons are repetitive, overly expansive and somewhat superficial, there is some serious red meat in the book.

The juiciest and most interesting lessons are those about using OPM (Other People's Money) to finance your business. Feuer's genius comes through as he describes (in fairly good detail) how he was able to fund OfficeMax's growth in early and later years without having to deal with overly demanding professional investors (venture capitalists). His myth-busting insights on raising capital are easily worth 100X the price of the book!

There's lots of great advice, that although not particularly original or ground-breaking, is presented in Feuer's clever fashion and is ignored at one's own peril. There's solid advice on how to hire effectively, manage projects, test ideas, change course, encourage innovation, outwit competitors and much more!

Although the book sometimes feels more like a promotional tool than a truly heart-felt treatise on entrepreneurship (there are incessant references to Feuer's Max-Wellness venture in the first half of the book) it provides enough valuable information, humor and even some genuine emotion to compel me to recommend it to you.

If you're thinking of starting a business, or if you're in the middle of launching a business like I am, the advice found in the pages of The Benevelovent Dictator may not be particularly inspirational, but it's highly instructional. Follow Feuer's advice to steer your business in the right direction.

Before I share how much I like this book, let's talk about the title first, because you might be thinking the same thing I was. From day one, I was not crazy about the title of Feuer's book. Anything related to dictatorship runs counter to my view of business leadership. However, I thought there had to be a reason this title was chosen, and why it made it past the publicist, so I did a little research. Here is what I found:

"A benevolent dictatorship is a form of government in which an authoritarian leader exercises political power for the benefit of the whole population... A benevolent dictator may allow for some democratic decision-making to exist..."

If we take that definition and apply it to business, we have an idea of what this book is about. How can an entrepreneur get an idea to market quickly and successfully? How can a business owner beat the competition? How can you manage a business through fast-track growth?

A benevolent dictator knows what this book tells readers. You need a little leadership for the whole group, a little dictatorship when things just need to get done, a little wisdom based in experience, and a little bit of luck for good measure.

Feuer guides the read through the four phases of a business or product life cycle: idea development, build out, continuous improvements, and cash out. These phases are shared through 40 lessons based on Feuer's personal experience as co-founder of Office Max, and Dustin Klein's experience as publisher and executive director of the Smart Business network.

A sampling of the chapter titles reveals the type of information shared. Lesson #9 is "Business is a series of "go" and "no-go" decisions. Lesson 16, "Managing people is about achieving objectives." Lesson #26, "When communicating, cut to the chase." Lesson #38, "Payday...and lessons from the IPO roadshow."

I found the story aspect of each chaper to be very interesting. The narrative style makes this a fairly easy book to read. Though I am not entrepreneurial by nature, understanding the viewpoint a successful business owner brings to the table can only add value to my experiences. If you are considering taking a product to market or launching a new business, it would be a good idea to read this book. If nothing else, you may be reminded to look into something you may have forgotten. And, lessons learned through someone else's successes and challenges can't hurt either!

Note: An advanced copy of this book was provided by the publisher. However, the content of the review and the opinions expressed were not influenced in any way by the publisher, author or any other party.

Rarely does a CEO grant access inside his/her mind, sharing perceptions, insights, styles, and business practices. Michael Feuer, founder and former CEO of OfficeMax, opens the floodgates of how he took OfficeMax from a three-store startup in Cleveland to a one thousand store enterprise with five billion dollars in annual revenue.

The Benevolent Dictator ("TBD") is defined as the entrepreneur, manager, or CEO who puts everyone ahead of himself/herself, but is the one who makes the important decisions and knows when to say stop.

TBD has four segments: 1. Start-up; 2. Build out and put the idea to the test; 3. Constant reinvention; and, 4. The Payday. These themes not only track the progression of fifteen years of OfficeMax; they also include Mr. Feuer's latest venture, Max-Wellness. However, the forty "lessons", i.e. chapters, are topical, permitting the reader to easily search for a particular subject. Have a great idea for a business? Take a look at Lesson # 10: Treat an Idea like Clay. You will find several golden nuggets of business wisdom there.

I found Mr. Feuer's understanding of employees' and customers' psychological actions and characteristics fascinating. His knowledge is beyond textbook, gathered from years of first-hand observation and analysis. This is business human behavior on steroids.

While Mr. Feuer's business background is retail, TBD is applicable to any type of business, even non-profits. It is a primer for current and aspiring CEO's and Entrepreneurs. It should also be a required reading for business graduate students. The contents apply to marketing, human relations in organizations, leadership, and strategy--among others.

Mr. Feuer's last name is the German word for "Fire". After reading The Benevolent Dictator, a fire will be lit under you.

Now GOYA(Lesson #6)!

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