Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games

by Mitt Romney and Timothy Robinson

Book Overview

The head of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics organizing committee describes how he assumed the leadership of the troubled organization and turned it around to present one of the most successful Olympic Games ever.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0895260840
• ISBN13: 9780895260840
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing
• Length: 396 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Budget Inversion

Amazing what Mitt Romney can do with numbers. If in doubt, do without. He pulled the 2002 winter games off on a no frills budget and turned a scandal into a triumph. It seems he gets so much grief just because he is a Mormon, but I'm amazed at what he can do and mostly impressed by his get up and go, can do attitude. His wife says he loves emergencies and crisis situations of any kind. He turns the financing of the games from a huge millions of dollars deficit into a millions of dollars profit. Throughout the whole crisis leading up to the games, he made it the mission of the whole team to be honest and forthright with each other and the public. It's blatantly apparent that he always makes an honest million and demands integrity of his team whoever they be. This book was truly inspirational in many ways. If you don't want to read the book or even hate Mitt Romney, at least read the "Prologue" and the first chapter. I love the story of the American flag from the World Trade Center bombing being brought into the Olympic stadium during opening ceremonies. It's really awesome! There have been other budget inversions in our nation's history. The most remarkable one happened on the eve of this country's founding and was repaired by Alexander Hamilton, our nation's first Treasury Secretary. That tale is best told by Forrest McDonald in his biography of Hamilton. These are great stories and must reads for government financiers!

An Excellent Leadership Study.

I found the book engaging and informative. Moreover, we are using it as the core of the current leadership study for our department's management staff for North America and Japan. Romney's turnaround methods are hightly applicable to any organization needing wholesale change or incremental improvement.

The Workings of Resounding Success - Created from Chaos

I was living in the SLC area during the entire Olympic Saga. I watched with great interest as the SLC Olympic tides turned from crazy chaos and drama to a great swelling of community pride and enthusiasm toward the Olympics, which ended in a grand culmination of a job done with great excellence and excitement. This tide change began and kept growing stronger and stronger upon the arrival on the scene of one man: Mitt Romnmey! I've wondered many times, "How did Mitt do the wonderful things he did for the SLOC games to make them end with such success? The book "Turnaround" gives us all the answers to that question and more. From marketing and promotions to generating sponsors and procuring funding, to creating a new, proactive culture for the entire organization, Mitt was focused, determined and exhibited other astounding abilities as he faced the Olympic challenges with creativity, enthusiasm and insight. All of this comes through the pages of this book to the reader. In fact,there are plenty of references in the book to the steps that were taken to solve the many challenges within the big challenge of the Olympics. Because of this, I think one of the names that would work for this book could be, "The Nuts and Bolts of Ordering Chaos into Resounding Success".(Hey, maybe they should sell it at Home Depot also!) Of course, we'd also need to combine the above book with a book on how to achieve the energy,intelligence and insight Mitt used as he carefully applied all the other steps toward creating Olympic success. However,we don't in fact need two books because by reading both the written words and "between the lines" of "Turnaround", all aspects of the success of the Olympics become perfectly clear, and it also becomes obvious that Mitt was the lightening rod for it all to happen like it did. This book is a fascinating read for anyone who is facing a huge, seemily overwhelming challenge in their life, and I highly recommend it!

I recommend it!

Mitt Romney has seemed to always have success when put in difficult situations where others would fail. This book is a detailed example of how he is able to turnaround a whole organization. Everyone would enjoy and apply the information learned from this book. I highly recommend it!

Great inside look!

Mitt Romney's book gives a great insider account of the Olympic games. I would never have known how much work went into making the event safe! I heard some friends talking about it and thought it would just be another political type book and I wouldnt like it, but I tried it out and was happily suprised that it was written with so much heart and learned alot about the games. I will now be recommending this book to my friends too.