Up The Organization

"Up the Organization is written by Robert Townsend who was the client at Avis (the car rental company) when Avis came up with the ‘We Try Harder’ campaign. Robert Townsend was always seen as a bit of a maverick both within his company and within the industry. The book has just been reprinted and I find it interesting that, even 40 years later, the book still speaks to a large audience. I will admit that I have not read it in about the last 30 years, but at the beginning of my career it was hugely influential to me because it told me that you could be part of an organization and still be a maverick within the organization. What he preached was how to break the rules and still fit in. I learned how to break the rules – I occasionally wish I had better learned the lesson of how to fit in."