Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

My Years with General Motors

By: Alfred P. Sloan Jr.
Narrated by: David Colacci
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.79

Buy for $25.79

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

My Years with General Motors became an instant best seller when it was first published in 1963. It has since been used as a manual for managers, offering personal glimpses into the practice of the "discipline of management" by the man who perfected it. This is the story no other businessman could tell - a distillation of half a century of intimate leadership experience with a giant industry and an inside look at dramatic events and creative business management.

Only a handful of business books have reached the status of a classic, having withstood the test of more than 50 years' time. Even today, Bill Gates praises My Years with General Motors as the best book to read on business, and Business Week has named it the number one choice for its "bookshelf of indispensable reading".

©1963; 1990 Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.; Introduction copyright by Peter F. Drucker (P)2019 HighBridge Company
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about My Years with General Motors

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    41
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    35
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very insightful

It is a great look behind the scenes of General Motors from the beginning and how what they did lead the industry to where it is today

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I wish I read this book before I decided to not get my MBA

Outstanding. After 4O years in the “corporate world” this book threads everything together. Read this Book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Classic management book and historical insights into the formation of the auto industry.

Sloan is a great writer and provides valuable insights into the formation of the ziti industry and GM. Hard to believe but GM sold more cars in the US in 1920 than Tesla did using robotics in 2020, 100 years later. If you’ve never heard of Charles Kettering you will live his genius as told by Sloan.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great history of the US auto industry

I’d heard this was an important book on management. I found that to be true. So many examples of innovating in an unknown field; I never even thought about the issues he faced...most challenges he faced are things we’ve long taken for granted. Some chapters were a little dry and I sympathized with the narrator at times. But overall a good book that will make you think about the field of organizational management and force you to ask yourself, “What would I have done?”

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Tough reading, scattered insights

Book with a lot of lessons spanning an incredible period of industrialism. The semi autobiographical format makes the volume hard to swallow but after digesting some details, there's much to be gained in terms of understanding the GM management model.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

Fascinating history of GM, the auto industry, and the management of large organizations. Should be required reading for all current and future business executives.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I wish it were longer

This is well known as an essential (but frankly aged and in some ways quite obsolete) management treatise, but I'm not sure that's why I personally find it so great. At this point in time, it may actually function better as an insider's reflections on the early days of the auto industry, but there is something about ghost writer John McDonald's prose that captures the essentially 19th century nature of Sloan that is just captivating. A fundamentally heartless man (he had an adding machine where that organ is supposed to be) is somehow rendered as a far more complete individual, despite his relentless focus on business, business, business to the exclusion of virtually everything else. It's quite a literary trick. I've listened to the recording half a dozen times and still find it remarkably engaging. The early chapters about how Durant went out and Dupont/Sloan came in are riveting drama. David Colacci is the perfect narrator for this material. If you find this book valuable, engaging or both, read John McDonald's "A Ghost's Memoir," about the rather incredible lawsuit that led to its publication years after it was finished, over the dead bodies of GM lawyers that were sure it would lead to an anti-trust conviction.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting read

Sloan takes the reader through how GM developed systems for dealing with organizational opportunities faced during his tenure. Have read about 100 biographies and this stands out because of how ubiquitous much of his reasoning has become for large corporations. While sometimes a bit dry, the content is quite strong and has stood the test of time well. Feel a lot of insights were gained in the reading.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enduring Management Lessons Despite Outdated Information

I’ve been looking forward to this book coming to Audible for quite some time, but I was initially bored with seemingly tedious details on the car industry in the early 20th century.

As I read more, that initial boredom turned to awe as I started to appreciate the clarity with which Sloan grasped all aspects of GM’s business at a time when it was one of the most important companies in the world. Im sure many longtime CEOs know a tremendous amount about their businesses, but Sloan was remarkable for his ability to abstract away the particulars and create a fundamental theory of the firm.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

heavy policy content

mainly fine business details. the book goes pretty deep into policy detail. there are a few interesting stories throughout though

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!