High Output Management

Foreword to the Vintage Books Edition
 
I first read High Output Management in 1995. In those days, there were no blogs or TED Talks teaching us about entrepreneurship. In fact, there was almost nothing of use written for people like me who aspired to build and run a company.
 
Against this backdrop, High Output Management had an almost legendary status. All the best managers knew about it. The top venture capitalists gave copies of it to their entrepreneurs, and aspiring leaders in Silicon Valley devoured its contents. It amazed all of us that the CEO of Intel had taken the time to teach us the essential skill of entrepreneurship: how to manage.
 
This was no small thing because Intel was known as the best company in the technology industry. It had pulled off the greatest transformation in the history of the business: moving from the memory business to microprocessors more than a decade after its founding. Beyond that, Intel ran with legendary precision, which gave it the ability to make multibillion dollar investments with high confidence. If you wanted to hire a great operational manager, then Intel was the place to go but good luck getting one to leave the best-managed company in Silicon Valley.
 
Andy himself was a legendary figure. He had grown up Jewish in Hungary during a time when the country was occupied by the Nazis and, later, by the Soviet Communists. Arriving in New York, he spoke no English and had almost no money. He enrolled himself at the City College of New York, overcame his language deficiency, and went on to get a PhD from UC Berkeley. This non native English speaker would then write an important textbook on semiconductors in English while working at Fairchild Semiconductor. As a result, he was considered a scientific pioneer even before helping to launch Intel in 1968, building it into the seminal technology company of the era. Later, in 1997, Time magazine would recognize his nearly impossible

Andrew S. Grove emigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1956. He participated in the founding of Intel, and became its president in 1979 and chief executive officer in 1987. He was chosen as Time magazine’s Man of the Year in 1997. In 1998, he stepped down as CEO of Intel, and retired as chairman of the board in 2004. Grove taught at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business for twenty-four years. He died in 2016.

"An organizational Baedeker for managers at all levels. . . . A highly credible handbook for organizing work and directing and developing employees."  The New York Times

[Andy s] book played a big role in shaping my management style.   Mark Zuckerberg, cofounder and CEO of Facebook

"A good book, generous enough with advice and observations to be required reading."  The Wall Street Journal

"A great book. . . . Its elementary prescriptions form the basis of a highly effective management style."  San Francisco Chronicle

"An important book which says some very important things . . . beautifully and with style." Peter Drucker 

High Output Management is a bible that every entrepreneur and every manager in the country should look at, read and understand.   Bill Campbell, former Intuit CEO

Andy exemplifies the best of Silicon Valley. Andy built the model for what a high quality Silicon Valley company could be.   Marc Andreessen, creator of the original Mosaic and Netscape web browsers