Iacocca By Lee Iacocca, William Novak

Iacocca By Lee Iacocca, William Novak: Success and Failures

Iacocca is an autobiography that captures the life and times of the son of an Italian immigrant family living his American dream. The autobiography covers a background analysis on Iacocca’s father, his marriage and final settlement in America before traversing through the life of Lee Iacocca. Quintessentially, this book recalls the rise of Iacocca through the various positions at the Ford Corporation to the peak as president of the company. Moreover, the book recaps the eventual power downplay that crumbled Iacocca’s stay at the helm, the eventual revitalizing of the Chrysler Corporation and the turn around to clearing a huge government debt. The book displays the hustle and bustle of American business enterprises and career developments as viewed in the eyes of an immigrant.

Iacocca offers the readers a glimpse, revealing the larger business world in a self- deprecating and open manner. This book is adequate to be read by the least business savvy person, set and authored in a simplistic way to understand as well as empathize. It explores the pursuit of an American dream as well as sensitizes on America as, “the land of freedom–the freedom to become anything you wanted to be, if you wanted it bad enough and were willing to work for it” (Iacocca, 1986). Also, the book rises to the general perception of how parents mold their children.

Evidently, Iacocca’s rise to success was fueled by his parent’s optimism and sense of pride with which they regarded their son. In consequence, Iacocca nurtured self-drive, ambition, enthusiasm and determination that guided him throughout his leadership and management career. Lee’s confrontations with bigotry and discrimination in his youth also contributed to his compassion for others clamoring to fight for the attainment of a better, worthy and successful life for all.

The book captures The Great Depression as Iacocca witnessed human degeneration, strife and plight in times of economic meltdown. This affected him especially in terms of sticking to a goal of emotional and monetary success. Throughout the book in his pursuit of the American dream, family devotion and patriotism, he followed the path of success, relishing and unrelentingly holding onto his accomplishments. These traits in aggregate gave him a competitive advantage over his cronies. He was truly compassionate and envisioned gaining more personal affability that was akin to his father.

The book outlines the successes of Iacocca, especially the social skills and prowess that are fundamental for developing close friendships and partnerships. These social relationships were made with differently-scaled people, combining executive and low-level individuals in terms of economic status. As an average American, his demeanor being that of a poor immigrant, endeared Iacocca to influential people such as Henry Ford Jr., furthered his career progression (Hall, 1987).

Nonetheless, his personality was criticized as revealing the opportunistic character that Iacocca had. Perhaps, this explains the eventual enmity between Iacocca and Henry Ford Jr. Henry feared the power that Iacocca wielded as well as his successes. Nonetheless, Iacocca arises as a stronger and mightier person. He moved onto Chrysler and helped revitalize the company. As is evident in the book, he states that “Setbacks are a natural part of life, and you’ve got to be careful of how you respond with them” (Iacocca & Novak, 1984).

References
G.K., H. (1987, February 1). Iacocca: An Autobiography – Lee Iacocca, William Novak – Google Books. Google Books. Retrieved May 15, 2013, from http://books.google.co.ke/books/about/Iacocca.html?id=5HGfNH_cLJoC&redir_esc=y

Iacocca, L. (1986, June 1). Amazon.com: Iacocca: An Autobiography (9785532514737): Lee Iacocca, William Novak. Retrieved May 15, 2013, from http://www.amazon.com/Iacocca-Autobiography-Lee/dp/0553251473

Iacocca, L. A., & Novak, W. (1984). Iacocca: An Autobiography. Toronto: Bantam Books.

Peter, W. (1986, June 1). The Blockbustering of Lee Iacocca – New York Times. The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved May 15, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/13/books/the-blockbustering-of-lee-iacocca.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm