The Packer Way : Nine Stepping Stones to Building a Winning Organization

There are some interesting insights into the Packer's assembly of its late 90s' teams and some transferable recommendations about managing organizations. Too much repetition makes the book a bit diluted.

I cannot really recommend it to any but the true Packer junkies, of which I am one.


Great Packer History and Insights Into Football Management   July 14, 2000
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Ron Wolf helped pull off one of the greatest turnarounds in sports history in the 1990s in reviving a powerhouse in Green Bay. That is an accomplishment that will long be studied and admired.

If this book were simply billed as a sports history of how the Green Bay Packers were turned around from being a weak franchise into Super Bowl Champions, it would be a five star book. Every football fan will find the book rewarding, and every Packer fan will find essential reading here. The details are there to cherish. The stories are fascinating. The mistakes are openly shared. You feel like you're in the offices of the Packers, agonizing over these same tough choices.

The book unfortunately tries to do a bit more, and falls short -- trying to become of management book of principles that everyone should follow. In fact, putting in the 9 steps pretty much tends to muddy up the Packer history aspect rather than enhance it. There are certainly some good management lessons here: Hire the best; set performance standards and keep them; and be prepared to handle the unexpected. They simply don't add up to enough perspective to be a management guide. You also get very little help in applying the ideas to your own organization, just a summary of the key points in the chapter at the end of each one. I graded the book down one star for its attempt to position itself unsuccessfully as a general management book. If you read it as a football book, rate it five stars as I said above!

Let me return to the football history aspect. I had never understood why Ray Rhodes was hired to replace Mike Holmgren. The chapter at the end explained Ron Wolf's logic very well. Time will tell how good a decision this was.

I was especially impressed with the idea that Wolf has that teams should try to win in the short term while they are adding the personnel to win in the long term. The contrast with the Boston Celtics, where Rick Pitino is full of rebuilding excuses year after year as the team fails to perform, is more than enough to convince me of the wisdom of Wolf's approach.

I also thought that Wolf does a good job of thinking through how you stay on top. I liked his concept of raising standards once you are a champion as a way to help overcome the tendency to rest on one's laurels as free agents scamper off to richer pastures and you have to live with a weak draft.

Good luck in using this book to improve the sports teams in your area! We could have some really great championship games as a result!

Not my style   January 19, 2000
Though I am an avid Packer fan and actually a fan of Ron Wolf's, I was a bit disappointed in the book "The Packer Way". Not so much in that it was poorly written, (though the writing was sub par) but more in the "I'm the tough guy, you should be too" style that weaves through the book. The history offered on the making of the championship team was great, but the self agrandizement that came along with each nugget was more than I'd hoped for. This may be a decent biography of a man I want running my football team, but not as my boss. It is not, however, a worth while management book on how to run or improve one's own business. Unless you want to be the guy that no one wants to work for.


Good book, but ...   October 3, 1999
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Wolf gives some very, very good advice. However, he does miss the big picture on many issues. A much better book on this same idea-line is MBA (Management by Auerbach), written by Celtic legend Red Auerbach.This book also is hindered by "Trumpishness." If you recall, Donald Trump went bankrupt after his best-selling "Trump: The Art of the Deal." Here, the Packers are playing Bears-level football, which may take away some of Wolf's lasting credibility!


One of the best business books I've read.   April 24, 1999
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

In no-nonsense fashion, and with plenty of real-life examples , Wolf lays out the beliefs and strategies that worked for him in Green Bay, and that can be used by anyone, whether going it alone , running a small start-up, or working in a division or team in a larger company. The discipline, the dedication to a cause, the vision, are valuable insights for personal growth, as well. Of course, for Packer fans, the inside scoop, naming names, and background on hiring high-prolile individuals, is great stuff, life lessons aside. I plan to give a copy to each of my sons, who are just starting their carreers. Teriffic book!