Chairman Mao's Business School

About the Book

During a visit to China in the mid-1990’s Lars Kleivan got hold of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book. Many hours on the road while travelling though this huge country gave him the opportunity to become acquainted with the quotations in this famous and widely distributed book. He was struck by the value of the content of this book as a direction for today’s leaders in their pursuit to become modern and successful managers if words like soldiers were replaced with employees, generals with presidents and general managers, cadres with middle managers, enemy with competition, masses with customers etc. Mr. Kleivan has combined Chairman Mao’s wisdom with his own education and comprehensive business experience, the experience of other western businessmen and -women, the practice of leading western companies and his passionate belief in Control, Profitability and Growth as a basic prerequisite for long-term success of modern organizations in the private as well as public sector. Chairman Mao and Mr. Kleivan’s thoughts as presented in the book should be a guide for all levels of management, public servants, trade union leaders and even politicians with reference to the way modern business organizations are managed on a daily basis.


Book Review:

A business book that uses the words of Mao Zedong to illustrate key strategies.
Taking voluminous writings—from books, speeches and articles—that laid out the chairman’s instructions for running China, Kleivan adapts Mao’s philosophy to modern business management. Describing Chairman Mao’s Business School as a “cookbook,” the author endeavors to “give ideas and inspiration to build corporations that will succeed in the competitive world.” Each of his chapters and subchapters—ranging in subject matter from “How to be an Efficient Business Executive” to “The Three Stages of Your Company’s Route to Success”—begin with lengthy quotations from the chairman. To apply these dictates to Western business practices, Kleivan provides a glossary of substitutions (for example, read “cadres” as “first line managers” and “peasants” as employees or workers). Then, using personal experience—the Norwegian author has worked for international companies like Dupont, IBM, Scandinavian Airlines, Diners Club and Citibank—and case studies from successful companies, he lays out his recommendations for success in business. From the outset, he stresses that his book should not be construed as “an endorsement of the politics that Chairman Mao carried out during his years in power” and he succeeds in drawing convincing parallels between Mao’s writing and modern management goals. But despite his enduring influence, Mao remains a controversial figure. By choosing as his centerpiece a divisive communist leader, Kleivan risks alienating potential readers before they even open his book. Furthermore, communism as an ideology and political system is very much at odds with the capitalist economy to which the author’s business advice is geared. Ultimately, the book is a bit of misnomer, since the vast majority of the book is rooted in the author’s experience in the business world, not Mao’s experience in the Cultural Revolution. Perhaps Kleivan should take more credit—his book is comprehensive, impassioned and clearly informed by a deep understanding of modern management.
Instructive, but limited by its central gimmick.

Kirkus Discoveries

About the Author

Lars Kleivan (1945) – a citizen of Norway – has his business education from Copenhagen School of Economics and Business Administration in Denmark. He has worked in leading positions for companies like Dupont, IBM, Scandinavian Airlines, Diners Club and Citibank to mention a few. He has worked for and together with prominent business leaders in the above companies and has been on the boards of companies in various industries. These have been relationships from which he has learned a lot – for better and for worse. Mr. Kleivan is currently living in Oslo, but has spent nine years of his professional life abroad in countries like Denmark, Canada, United States and France in addition he has travelled extensively in many countries of the world – including China.