Doug Garr

Hank Cardello

A former food and beverage industry insider charges corporate marketing practices with spurring the obesity epidemic and its related health challenges, arguing that businesses have put their profits ahead of the greater good, in an account that outlines recommended steps for rendering foods healthier. 25,000 first printing.

An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat

Stuffed

Can one man change the course of business history? When Lou Gerstner, a high-tech neophyte, took the helm at IBM in 1993, the company was in a death spiral. Big Blue lost $8 billion that year, capping a three-year loss of nearly $16 billion. One of the nation's premiere industrial giants seemed destined to wither away and die in bankruptcy. The world of high technology changed and IBM failed to adapt, drowning in its own bureaucracy and its insular view of the business world. Six years later, after a miraculous recovery, IBM is vital and thriving once again. The stock has reached its all-time high, the balance sheet is cashrich, and its market capitalization has increased more than fourfold to $169 billion. It is a success story beyond compare. IBM Redux is the inside story of the greatest turnaround in business history, and the man who made it happen Here is the first in-depth look at IBM's recovery and the man who is leading it, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. It is a skillfully told story, as author Doug Garr chronicles Gerstner's rise, his arrival as the first steward from outside the company's ranks, and his implementation of new business and marketing strategies. Drawn from more than 150 interviews and hundreds of pages of documents, Garr paints an enthralling portrait of the improbable transformation of this dying mainframe company into an increasingly nimble information services giant. With unprecedented access to current and former IBM employees, the author provides rare insight into how it happened and what still needs to happen for the company to thrive in the twenty-first century. From the complete overhaul of IBM's culture and image to the takeover of Lotus and the development of network technology, Garr vividly illustrates Gerstner's operating methods, management philosophy, and, yes, vision. And along the way he reveals who this extraordinary, sometimes difficult, man is, what drives him, and where, in the eyes of his critics, he has missed the mark. Fast-paced and fascinating, IBM Redux is the first unauthorized, behind-the-scenes look at a remarkable company and its remarkable manager who, after previous careers dispensing cookies and credit cards, is rapidly changing the face of the entire high-tech industry.

Lou Gerstner and the Business Turnaround of the Decade

IBM Redux

For more than thirty years, Hank Cardello was an executive and adviser to some of the largest food and beverage corporations in the world. For more than thirty years, he watched as corporate profits-and America′s waistlines-ballooned: fattening consumers meant fattening profits. Now, in this fascinating and timely book, Cardello offers a behind-the-scenes look at the business of food, providing an insider′s account of food company practices, failed government regulations, and misleading media coverage that have combined to place us in the middle of a national obesity epidemic. With insights culled from Cardello′s time in the food industry, Stuffed explores how food companies have spent the last fifty years largely ignoring healthier fare in the name of their bottom lines while pushing consumers toward "convenience" food and supersize portions without considering the health consequences. From grocery aisles to restaurant booths to boardrooms, Cardello reveals the hidden forces that have long shaped your supermarket purchases and menu selections. He examines the black-and-white mind-set that has produced the carefully targeted marketing strategies that have maximized profits for the food industry and led to weight gain for you. But Cardello makes clear that the food companies should not take all the blame. They are merely a cog in a larger system that′s broken, and here Cardello illustrates how the government and the media have only made it harder for Americans to make nutritious choices. Highlighting both bit players and high-profile voices of change, Cardello explains the fundamental risks to one-size-fits-all regulatory solutions and the bigger dangers posed by letting the food pundits confuse the health conversation. More than simply a chronicle of how we got here, Stuffed also puts forth a groundbreaking blueprint for the future of the food industry. In debunking the common myth that "healthier" has to mean higher costs and unpalatable tastes, Cardello provides novel but concrete steps that food companies can take to fatten their profits and slim down their customers. In addition, he stresses the realistic role that consumers must play in America′s new health equation, explaining that unless they demand healthier food with their wallets, America will continue to tip the scales for years to come.

Woz, the Prodigal Son of Silicon Valley

Charles Salzberg

Rob Kimmel

Garr chronicles his coming of age as a skydiver between 1969 and 1982 and thezany characters he met on this unique thrill ride through the skies.

Doug Garr

About

Books

Join the club