The Unwritten Laws of Business

W.J. King and James G. Skakoon

ISBN 1846680379

ISBN 13 9781846680373

April 2007

Price £9.99

Hardback, 112 pp.

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Subject: Business

It’s a little book with a big history.

In the summer of 2005, the magazine Business 2.0 published a cover story on a self-published management pamphlet by William Swanson, CEO of American aerospace contractor Raytheon. Lauded by chief executives including Jack Welch and Warren Buffett, it became a quiet phenomenon, and more than 300,000 people wrote in to the magazine to ask for a copy. But much of the pamphlet drew from a business book of 1944 – which Profile are now reissuing, revised and updated, as The Unwritten Laws of Business.

Filled with sage advice and written in a clear, engaging style, it offers insights on working with others, reporting to a boss, running meetings, advancing your career, and much, much more: If you have no intention of using someone’s opinion, don’t ask for it; It’s natural enough to ‘look out for Number One’, but your associates won’t look out for you; If you take care of your present job well, the future will take care of itself. And more – all of which has also stood the test of time.

Refreshingly free of the latest business jargon, The Unwritten Laws of Business is wise, ethical and insightful, capturing and distilling the timeless truths and principles that underlie management and business the world over.

‘Sound advice…its age gives it a pleasant formality that sits in stark contrast to many of the bullet-pointed lists of anecdotes that pass as business writing today.’
— The Times

‘Read this!’
— Guardian