Guts: The Seven Laws of Business That Made Chrysler the World's Hottest Car Company

The son of a Swiss banker who shuttled between Wall Street and Zurich, Lutz showed little ambition as a teenager. He didn't graduate from high school until he was 22. It took a stint in the Marines and a hard push from his father to develop the discipline that led to a successful international career in the car industry. He was chair of Ford in Europe and a top official at General Motors and BMW before going to Chrysler. Lutz also knows disappointment: Bob Eaton--not Lutz--replaced Lee Iacocca as CEO of Chrysler in 1992. Yet, instead of pouting in defeat, Lutz stuck with the company. He retired earlier this year, proud of his role in Chrysler's merger with Germany's Daimler-Benz. Guts is a lively business-management book. It's the story of one man's passion for automobiles--and how he jump-started a giant company that makes them. --Dan Ring

Product Description
In May 7, 1998 Chrysler Corporation and Germany's Daimler-Benz (owner of Mercedes) shocked the business world by announcing their intention to merge. What led to this largest industrial merger of all time? How did Chryslerawhich not too long ago needed government-backed loans in order to surviveatransform itself into not just a partner coveted by Daimler (the gold standard of European car makers) but the most profitable car company in the world? And what does their mega-merger portend for consumers, governments, shareholders and workers around the world?

In Guts, Robert A. Lutz, the product-development genius and iconoclastic leader behind Chrysler's second renaissance, answers these questions and many, many more.

With wit and a surprising frankness, Lutz tells how Chrysler in the early '90s recovered from a second near-death experience to go on and post record profits, emerging as Forbes magazine's "Company of the Year." He credits this remarkable turnaround to Chrysler's having embraced (at his urging) a deliberately "schizophrenic" corporate culture: tough, buttoned-down financial controls coupled with a rock-the-boat, provocative, highly creative product development process. The marriage of these two gave birth to a large family of hit products, starting with the radical, hugely popular Dodge Viper sports car, whose creation Lutz here describes. Along the way, he propounds what he humorously calls "Lutz's Immutable Laws of Business"aseven controversial maxims meant to stand conventional business wisdom on its ear.

Guts explains how and why every organization must cultivate a "split personality" combining common sense with freewheeling creativity. It defines the leader's role in maintaining a healthy balance between the two. And it argues that a dynamic tension between them is the prime attribute that enables top-performing companies to introduce new products and achieve record profits.

This embracing of opposites is, to say the least, unusual in the corporate world. For Lutz, however, it is business and lifeaas usual. What else would you expect from a vegetarian who loves a good cigar, a high-achiever who didn't graduate from high school until he was 22, a former Marine fighter pilot whose "Law of Life" is a line from a Rolling Stones song? Add to these paradoxes the fact that Lutz, unlike many of his peers, got into the automobile business because he actually likes cars, and he emerges as the quintessential maverick. Cinderella success story, unorthodox business primer, portrait of an iconoclastic icon, Guts is many books in one, each supplying its own brand of informative, amusing, and entertaining reading.

LUTZ'S LAWS:

• The Customer Is Not Always Right
• The Primary Purpose of Business Is Not "To Make Money"
• When Everyone Else Is Doing It, DON'T!
• Too Much Quality Can Ruin You
• Financial Controls Are Bad
• Disruptive People Are An Asset
• Teamwork Isn't Always Good

"Bob Lutz is one of America's most imaginative and most insightful business leaders. He thinks way outside the box, and when he talks, everyone needs to listen."aMichael Hammer Coauthor, Reengineering the Corporation

"Lutz has made Chrysler into the feistiest, and most profitable, automaker on the planet."aSteve Miller CEO, Waste Management Inc.

"Listening to Lutz is like hearing a Viper engine come to life. It's raw and pure. He loves speed, whether it's related to cars, fighter jets, or change in an organization."aKent Kresa Chief Executive Officer Northrop Grumman Corporation

"Bob Lutz knows more about cars than anyone. And he knows more than anyone about fixing car companies . . . but what makes Bob unique is his extraordinary sense of self-confidenceacall it gutsawhich has permitted him always to have fun doing the right thing. So, go get some Guts, and share the fun!"aJames P. Womack Author, The Machine That Changed the World, and President, Lean Enterprise Institute

"Original and daring in his actions, Bob Lutz has lived with big business problems and big mistakes to become a rare pioneering winner."aDonald E. Petersen Retired Chairman and CEO, Ford Motor Company

Where the book misses is in the spotty autobiography. Lutz's essay and the forward by Bob Eaton make much of the fact that he is a vegetarian, an ex-marine, Berkley alum and former reprobate who did not finish high school till age 22, yet went on to success in every arena in his life thereafter, but then he doesn't bother to explain much about his past, except the Marine part. As long as he takes the time to prescribe remedies to the state of the modern educational and legal systems, the apparently disparate aspects of his life deserve philosophical explanations, too.

Those who buy books just to peruse the laws promised in the title (perhaps Lutz wrote this book for such people) will get their money's worth. Those with the discipline to read a whole book will want a separate biography.


A Must-Read!   April 30, 2001
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Former Chrysler president and vice-chairman Robert A. Lutz proves that sometimes a corporate leader can write a terrific book (it just doesn't happen very often). If Lutz ever decides to get out of the corporate arena entirely, he would make a fabulous comedian. Known as a colorful and brilliant leader ever since he turned Chrysler around in the early `90s, he shares the ideas that saved the company as well as others he believes could help any organization succeed. Lutz is direct, holds nothing back and points out the lunacy behind most corporate decisions. We [...] think of him as the Dennis Miller of corporate honchos. He fills his how-to book with plenty of examples from his Chrysler days, making it a provocative page-turner that any businessperson can relish.



No Bull   February 18, 2000
I really enjoyed GUTS. I am a Design Engineering Manager and appreciated Lutz's straight to the point style. Today I am buying a copy for my brother who is also a product development engineer. My job is to drive change in my company. Lutz's book helped me clarify my vision and get on with reaching my goals. His advice is clear, useful and simple.