One-on-One with Andy Grove

by Andrew S. Grove

Answers common questions about business management and provides guidance on dealing with personnel problems

Genres: Business, Management, Leadership, Nonfiction, Technology, Entrepreneurship

235 pages, Hardcover

First published June 10, 1987

About the author

Andrew Stephen ("Andy") Grove (born 2 September 1936), is a Hungarian-born American businessman, engineer, and author. He is a science pioneer in the semiconductor industry. He escaped from Communist-controlled Hungary at the age of 20 and moved to the United States where he finished his education. He later became CEO of Intel Corporation and helped transform the company into the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductors.

In 1968, As a result of his work at Intel, and from his books and professional articles, Grove had a considerable influence on the management of modern electronics manufacturing industries worldwide. He has been called the "guy who drove the growth phase" of Silicon Valley.Steve Jobs, when he was considering returning to be Apple's CEO, called Grove, who was someone he "idolized," for his personal advice. One source notes that by his accomplishments at Intel alone, he "merits a place alongside the great business leaders of the 20th century."

Reviews

[Jacek Bartczak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now we have books/articles of Ben Horowitz, Marc Andressen, Paul Graham (and many others) 20 years ago entrepreneurs had mostly Andy Grove. That book may be called "the Bible" of management. It is not easy to rate "One-On-One". Tips are very useful but they were shared 30 years ago so they already spread out.

Q&A format makes it comfortable to read. Hunters of "concerts and silver bullets" probably will be disappointed because most answers boil down to open conversation between a manager/supervisor and employee.

Sometimes Andy Grove makes firm statements despite the fact he doesn't have a broad context of the presented problem (maybe he doesn't need to?). Very rarely he uses "it depends".

Sometimes I feel that current trends in management in unclear situations recommend to take a side of employee and focus on his satisfaction. Andy's approach is more like "manager's duty is to make sure that employees duties are delivered - managers shouldn't feel bad once they ask difficult questions".

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, useful tips, a little outdated.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good review of techniques that a manager can use in the workplace. While published in 1987, the book still has some timeless ideas for any manager. At times, some of the comments sounded like a command climate survey. A new manager must know that this type of feedback is coming! Don't overreact! Key notes are below:

- I discovered that it was "knowledge power" more than "position power" that enabled me to influence the activities of others.
- What does it mean to be managed? It means getting trained in the rudiments of the job, getting coached, getting evaluated (praised or criticized - whichever is appropriate).
- the single most useful management technique that I learned through my years of managing. My answer was: the practice of regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings. One on one meetings are the preventive medicine of management work.
- One of the simplest ways a manager can add value is by removing bottlenecks and obstacles from the way of his employees.
- What particularly confounds most new managers is the huge variety of people issues that take up so much of their time and attention.

[Fellow · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not as great as classics "High Output Management" and "Only The Paranoid Survive" but still relevant. This is a simple Q&A based books about best management practices. It's 30 years old but hasn't aged that much. Grove was a splendid manager indeed. I'm glad that he left us his books.

[Tiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two concepts are very clear from the book: Common sense and Straight dealing. They form the basis of Grove's management style. Yet common sense take a lot of

[Razvan Visan · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Natarajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for anyone working in large organization. This along with his other book High Output Manangement deals with the challenges a middle level manager faces in a large organization.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andy Grove - a fellow Inteloid explains the mind behind a successful manager & leader. He placed together newspaper advice questions & answers that he printed in the paper. His approach is always has 3 key groups in mind 1) customers, 2) employees & 3) share holders. Good read!

[Dmitry Manayev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well collected advices to managers and employees on how to handle different situations in daily work at company, how to manage relationships. It is based on newspaper question/answers by Andy Groove. The problems and solutions written 30 years ago didn't change much from today life.

[Max Lybbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all management books from Andy Grove, this book has aged very well. Useful, practical advice for handling several common work issues.

[Emily & Joel]

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