I generally liked this book and recommend it for those interested in the business world. Steve Miller has had something of an unconventional career. Mid-level auto executive, tucked away in a foreign sub away from the power center of his company, that rises to a challenge that his previous experience would not have seemingly prepared him for. From there, he builds a career as a leading turnaround manager and a guy that is generally thought of as a realist when dealing in very difficult situations. That part of the story reinforces the view that successful careers are a marathon and that sometimes the path that you didn't expect is the one that bears the most fruit. (How's that for buzzword laden sentence!)

In terms of those who are looking at this as a road map on how to execute a turnaround and value a business following a Chapter 11, do not pass go. It isn't that kind of book. If you're a novice looking to understand the Chapter 11 process, this is not the right book for you. (Try Distressed Debt Analysis by Stephen Moyer.) But, for those who are trying to run a business that needs a kickstart, there are some valuable comments on how to deal effectively with your employees, creditors, and customers. I think Mr. Miller comes across as honest and candid when he is involved in those situations.

What makes this book unique is the personal part of the story. By his own account, Mr. Miller's greatest asset and greatest source of concern. perhaps, was his spouse. I found his honesty on that subject to be refreshing and the sign of a man who is comfortable in his own skin.

The one knock I have are some inconsistencies in aspects of his career that did not go well. His efforts to explain why the Board at Waste Management failed in their duty to provide effective oversight of the company's management came across as a CYA answer to hold off plaintiff's attorney in a lawsuit.

Mr. Miller also completely bypasses what occurred at Chrysler's finance subsidiary within just a few months of leaving the company in 1992. He is candid about his attempt to unseat Lee Iacocca, but he makes no mention of the fact that the finance sub had a gun to their head with an expiring, and fully funded, bank deal in the summer of 1992. His lack of oversight with the folks at the American Center should have been noted, if for no other reason than as a cautionary tale.

The story line concentrates a lot on the personal side and, as described in the sub-title, the learning derived from human behaviour in crises. Mr. Miller does go into a lot of detail on the completed turnarounds, but as you might expect given that it is unfinished business the Delphi story is a bit open ended. There is a good but short postscript on the political impact of American corporate social security arrangements on national competitiveness in international markets. The book covers the moral issues of corporate cash crises and Mr. Miller's values from his childhood as they evolved with his turnaround experiences. Overall an easy and enjoyable read with the story line flowing fast and the book well written.

Very interesting read--both the business as well as personal. I felt as though the author was speaking to me on a one to one.

THE TURNAROUND KID: WHAT I LEARNED RESCUING AMERICA'S MOST TROUBLED COMPANIES recounts the high points of the author's career rescuing American business disasters - and in the process offers college-level business libraries the opportunity to understand the evolution of a business genius. Blending business management concepts with a memoir, THE TURNAROUND KID shows how the author turned around his own life as well as businesses, reshaping and restructuring the very foundations of big business procedures in the process. An inspiring, enlightening account.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I expected more. An exciting book that would provide insight on financial workouts. Well I didn't get, I wanted to close the book several times, but I hate leaving a book half read. If you are looking for a interesteing read, this isn't it.

Mr. Miller comes across as a hard-working, pragmatic, unaffected and down to earth guy who sees the big picture and cares about people in it. We can only hope that there are more executives like him at the top of F500 companies. I would recommend this book to any MBA programme as a supplement to their business ethics programme or anybody who has ever struggled to calibrate his/her own moral compass under pressures from various constituencies.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable autobiography of Steve Miller, a rising Ford executive who became the go to guy for companies in crisis over more than two decades. At Chrysler, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Olympia & York, Morrison Knudsen, Federal Mogul, Waste Management, Reliance Group Holdings, Bethlehem Steel, Aetna and Delphi, he parachuted into companies on the brink of failure and tried to come up with the best solution. Sometimes the outcome is a roaring success, other times he has to settle for the best of a series of unpleasant choices, and other times he is ineffective.

This book is more Miller's autobiography than a how-to guide to fixing broken companies. The book is only 230 pages long and each company's situation is only covered at a high level. Miller's strength as a businessman is his ability to take a fresh, hard look at the companies, face up to the cold reality and work with all parties to come up with the best possible solution. His book has many on the same strengths; he offers what appears to be an honest (sometimes brutally so) assessment of his own successes and failures, as well as those of the other parties in the drama.

What emerges is the story of a leader who enjoys the excitement of trying to solve complex problems while trying, and succeeding, to do the right thing for his family and the people and companies that depend on him.

Steve Miller is credited with turnaround a number of companies in different industries. "The Turnaround Kid" purports to present important lessons learned in the process.

Unfortunately, Mr. Miller fails to present either a structured generalized approach to improving stressed companies, or a specific "how-I-done-it" for the firms involved. This severely limits the value of the book.

Two other major problems: 1)Miller's frequent diversion into memorializing his first (deceased) wife, and 2)The embarrassing fact that the book was published prior to completing the Delphi auto parts turnaround - his supposed greatest accomplishment. (Worse yet for Miller, "The Turnaround Kid" also contains derogatory remarks about the UAW's head (Delphi's labor union) and G.M. (Delphi's major customer). And then there's the problem of Waste Management's falling back after Miller left as CEO, and Federal-Mogul's descent into bankruptcy despite bringing Miller back. (Federal-Mogul's bankruptcy was caused by a late 1998 acquisition of T&L PLC and associated asbestos liabilities. Miller was a Director, starting in 1993, and recruited the errant CEO. Then, when brought back, Miller made the FATAL error of turning down a settlement offer.)

Readers also learn of Miller's stumbling over giving large raises to Delphi executives while asking workers to sacrifice as much as 60% of their pay and benefits (Iaccoca's example at Chrysler should have taught Miller better), his failure to improve the O&Y real estate empire, and the ease of improving the Detroit Symphony - merge with the group controlling the 1919 Orchestra Hall, and get donations from large companies.

Miller's basic approach is to use bankruptcy laws to shed debt, and reverse years of a corporate welfare approach to labor that is no longer tenable under today's globalization. Wages, health care and pension benefits, work rules, and job classifications are all substantially reduced. Ergo, if standards of living are to have any hope of preservation, government must step in to provide health care, and workers must take greater responsibility for their own retirement (eg. defined contribution plans replacing defined benefit plans).

Miller's emphasis on reducing costs is sensible. However, it's long-term success is questionable given that Chinese workers earn about $2/hour, vs. a range of $14 to $18.50 at Delphi, down from much higher prior levels.

Steve Miller is credited with turnaround a number of companies in different industries. "The Turnaround Kid" purports to present important lessons learned in the process.

Unfortunately, Mr. Miller fails to present either a structured generalized approach to improving stressed companies, or a specific "how-I-done-it" for the firms involved. This severely limits the value of the book.

Two other major problems: 1)Miller's frequent diversion into memorializing his first (deceased) wife, and 2)The embarrassing fact that the book was published prior to completing the Delphi auto parts turnaround - his supposed greatest accomplishment. (Worse yet for Miller, "The Turnaround Kid" also contains derogatory remarks about the UAW's head (Delphi's labor union) and G.M. (Delphi's major customer). And then there's the problem of Waste Management's falling back after Miller left, and Federal-Mogul's descent into bankruptcy despite bringing Miller back. (Federal-Mogul's bankruptcy was caused by a late 1998 acquisition of T&L PLC and associated asbestos liabilities. Miller's role in this is unclear - he was a Director, beginning in 1993, and Acting CEO in 1996.)

In between, we learn of Miller's stumbling over giving large raises to Delphi executives while asking workers to sacrifice as much as 60% of their pay and benefits (Iaccoca's example at Chrysler should have taught Miller better), his failure to improve the O&Y real estate empire, and the ease of improving the Detroit Symphony - merge with the group controlling the 1919 Orchestra Hall, and get donations from large companies.

Miller's basic approach is to use bankruptcy laws to reverse years of a corporate welfare approach to labor that is no longer tenable under today's globalization. Wages, health care and pension benefits, work rules, and job classifications must all be substantially reduced. Ergo, if standards of living are to have any hope of preservation, government must step in to provide health care, and workers must take greater responsibility for their own retirement (eg. defined contribution plans replacing defined benefit plans).

Miller's emphasis on reducing costs is sensible. However, it's long-term success is questionable given that Chinese workers earn about $2/hour, vs. a range of $14 to $18.50 at Delphi, down from $27 previously.

I suspect most people will buy this book for Miller's inside stories of salvaging (or attempting to salvage) value from failed companies from Chysler to Delco. They'll get their money's worth, there are concise, well-written accounts of the projects, including information that had not been previously reported.

Aside from the business, Miller has opened up about some aspects of his life more deeply than most business autobiographers. In particular, his complex and unusual relationship to his wife Maggie (who dies in the book, Miller has since remarried) is described in sharply-etched stories that will leave readers puzzling long after the book is finished.

There is also plenty of grist for Millerphiles and Millerphobes. You can see the career arc from the guy who wouldn't even mention the word "bankruptcy" at Chrysler in the late 1970s, to the guy who used bankruptcy like a rapier in the 1990s and 2000s (including becoming the poster child for rich retention agreements as he filed for Delco just before a legal change that would have restricted such "golden handcuff" payments). His fresh openness with the press was a major asset at Chrysler, by the end of the book he is refusing to comment to the press at all. Either Miller got tougher or the world did. But like him or hate him, I think he was the only person in Detroit with honesty and credibility to make everyone face some harsh reality, and he deserves a good share of the credit for the positive steps in management/labor relations of the past couple of years. If you want to hate him anyway, you can hate him for appearing to enjoy himself while forcing painful adjustments on everyone.

However, the best reason to read this book is something I never expected to find. I've always wondered why anyone with alternatives even bothered with these distressed companies. You'd think shareholders would sell, managers and workers would find better places to work, customers would take their business elsewhere; and let the opportunists fight the hopeless for any remaining crumbs. Miller has an appreciation for corporate greatness. He starts each account with the former glories of the company, not just in terms of outside accomplishments, but how many people gave it their working lives, and were rewarded with financial security and genuine pride. This is not a guy working only for shareholders or creditors or management (and certainly not only for workers or customers). This is a guy who expects all those groups to sacrifice so corporate greatness can be restored. Right or wrong, he's not a liquidator or union-buster or deadbeat, he tries to be a turnaround kid.