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Leon Gorman's book is a strange hybrid. It's a mixture of Leon's (or a ghost writer with a homey bent) narrative and quotes from other people involved in the company. Sometimes the quotes reinforce the point in the main text, sometimes expand on different aspects, and sometimes seem in outright conflict with the main text.
The first bit is a brief history of the early LL Bean years from the company's founding until around 1960. This bit is an easy to read narrative, fun for the whole family. The second part starts with Leon joining the company and talks about the years until LL's death. This section is interesting because it focuses on the personalities of the major players and the interaction between them. It also talks a lot about the physical changes that took place in the company during those years. The final portion of the book covers the years Leon was leading the company. This part starts out as a description of changes and events then as time goes on moves into a detail description of implementations of management theories and practices. The book gets progressively less fun to read.
From the perspective of a learning tool, the book is too vague and too watered down with spurious story. From a casual reading perspective it goes to far into the management initiatives in the last part. It really can't decide which kind of book it wants to be and will therefore lie unfinished on coffee tables.
That said, I still enjoyed the story up into the 1970's and it was interesting to me to hear the story behind some of the things that ended shortly before my tenure at the company began.
I do feel Leon danced around something that really should have been said. He hinted and he alluded, but he never really expressed the primary problem facing the company at his departure and still today. Perhaps he didn't want to express it clearly because it's an ongoing problem that colors the prospects for the company. But you can read between the lines: How can a company that bases it's reputation on quality and service survive in a nation fixated on unrealistically low prices? The company is faced with becoming a dinosaur or selling the same kind of crap that Walmart and Target push out the doors because Americans only really buy on price.
9. Leon Gorman "L.L.Bean: The Making of an American Icon"
The first bit is a brief history of the early LL Bean years from the company's founding until around 1960. This bit is an easy to read narrative, fun for the whole family. The second part starts with Leon joining the company and talks about the years until LL's death. This section is interesting because it focuses on the personalities of the major players and the interaction between them. It also talks a lot about the physical changes that took place in the company during those years. The final portion of the book covers the years Leon was leading the company. This part starts out as a description of changes and events then as time goes on moves into a detail description of implementations of management theories and practices. The book gets progressively less fun to read.
From the perspective of a learning tool, the book is too vague and too watered down with spurious story. From a casual reading perspective it goes to far into the management initiatives in the last part. It really can't decide which kind of book it wants to be and will therefore lie unfinished on coffee tables.
That said, I still enjoyed the story up into the 1970's and it was interesting to me to hear the story behind some of the things that ended shortly before my tenure at the company began.
I do feel Leon danced around something that really should have been said. He hinted and he alluded, but he never really expressed the primary problem facing the company at his departure and still today. Perhaps he didn't want to express it clearly because it's an ongoing problem that colors the prospects for the company. But you can read between the lines: How can a company that bases it's reputation on quality and service survive in a nation fixated on unrealistically low prices? The company is faced with becoming a dinosaur or selling the same kind of crap that Walmart and Target push out the doors because Americans only really buy on price.
9. Leon Gorman "L.L.Bean: The Making of an American Icon"
