BOOK REVIEWS: THE AVERAGED AMERICAN

THE AVERAGED AMERICAN
Harvard University Press; 398pp; $35

The Good A fascinating glimpse at the world of social science research and scientific polling.
The Bad The academic writing style is occasionally a tough slog.
The Bottom Line A rewarding look at the evolution of an information revolution.

With all of the data now available on consumers' wants and needs, it's hard to imagine that less than a century ago market research consisted of little more than knowing the number of widgets your business sold in Muncie. Then, in the years after World War I, commerce was revolutionized by the dawning of modern social science research and scientific polling techniques. A fascinating glimpse of the upheaval that forever altered the way Americans see themselves, sell products, and operate election campaigns may be found in The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public by University of Pennsylvania historian Sarah E. Igo.

It was a rocky road to social transformation. In the early years of scientific research, Igo writes, it took a lot of work "to persuade business owners...that collecting information about their customers' buying habits was worthwhile." Many did not believe that citizens would answer prying questions about personal habits or political views from strangers knocking on their doors. And a large number of skeptics, she observes, did not "trust the assembled answers as either trustworthy or true."

Igo, a rising star among American historians, presents detailed analyses of three milestones in the emerging field of survey research: Robert and Helen Lynd's best-selling Middletown studies of 1929 and 1937, which dissected the lives of residents of an unnamed, average town in Middle America (Muncie, Ind.); the creation by George Gallup and Elmo Roper of the first public opinion polls in 1935; and Alfred Kinsey's shocking sexual-behavior reports of 1948 and 1953.

The key for the survey-research industry was defining "the average American." That's the everyman (yes, in those days, marketers wanted to appeal to "the man of the house") who will buy your products or vote for your candidate. As Newsweek noted in 1947, "a shadowy figure [is] beginning to emerge...American majority man."

But, as Igo wisely notes, the search for the average American intentionally excluded large swaths of the population. The Lynds' Middletown research excluded African Americans and immigrants, and Kinsey limited his sexual studies to Caucasians. Early polling often undersampled the poor, racial minorities, immigrants, Southerners, and others seen as less likely to purchase consumer goods or vote. "Even if [the portrait] was never particularly accurate or representative," Igo writes, the new typical Americans played "a vital role in consolidating the [concept of a] national public."

The world of surveys spawned businesses that were designed to explain these average Americans and "the public" to those who would buy the data, from politicians to companies. Business Week in 1934 called the Lynds' work "a godsend to marketers." Gallup saw similarities in how people think "from politics to toothpaste." Roper predicted that the science of polling would become "a veritable gold mine if we could learn fast enough how to use it in all of its ramifications."

It did become a gold mine for Roper, as he signed up companies that were eager to sell their products to average Americans. Among the first to embrace the new way of doing business: Ford Motor (F ), Standard Oil, the American Meat Institute, the National Broadcasting Co., RCA Victor, and the Spiegel catalog company.

As the polling business became more sophisticated, Gallup and others began to study gender, class, and geographical differences to help clients appeal to groups once "routinely ignored," including housewives, Southerners, and blue-collar workers. With the coming of the civil rights movement and the sexual revolution of the 1960s, "pollsters recalibrated their strong majoritarian frame, detecting new significance in how men and women, young and old, Latinos and Asian Americans assessed presidents and purchases differently." Niche markets and microtargeting became buzzwords on Madison Avenue.

At the dawn of the 21st century, survey research is continuing to evolve. Using state-of-the-art technology, pollsters examine brain scans to determine which product pitches or political platforms cause flashes of neural activity. The growth of Internet polling has raised debates over the scientific validity of Web-based survey techniques.

Polling, once considered a scandalous invasion of privacy, is now an accepted practice. More than 20% of Americans were polled at least once in the past year. As Igo aptly concludes, "we will continue to live in a world shaped by, and perceived through, survey data."

BOOK REVIEWS: TRUE NORTH

The Good A practical, inspiring examination of the executive experience.
The Bad Some may be confused by the absence of a direct, prescribed path to becoming an ideal leader.
The Bottom Line There's plenty of fodder to help readers figure things out for themselves.


When top executives sit down to write a book, the result is often a celebratory memoir or an upbeat treatise on how you can emulate their success. Bill George has chosen to produce neither, and readers are the luckier for it. Instead, the former Medtronic (MDT ) CEO and current Harvard Business School professor has teamed up with co-author Peter Sims to offer a practical, inspiring examination of the executive experience, True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership. While the volume is a sequel to George's 2003 best-seller, Authentic Leadership, it easily stands alone as a guide to locating what the authors call "the internal compass that guides you successfully through life."

At the heart of True North is a series of interviews with 125 managers, from Novartis (NVS ) CEO Daniel Vasella to Palm (PALM ) co-founder Donna Dubinsky. George and Sims indulge in a few anecdotes that flatter their subjects. But they also get interviewees to talk about failures, emotional challenges, personal tragedies, regrets—in short, life events that knocked them off typical career paths. Taken together, the stories illustrate True North's thesis: that there is no single way to become an ideal leader. The volume is both memorable and perceptive.

True North has three parts. The first is an anecdote-rich section that describes what it means to be an "authentic leader" and examines how various people arrived at this status or lost their way. There's Kevin Sharer, who abandoned General Electric (GE ) for MCI, only to find that he was miserable and that Jack Welch wouldn't take him back. ("Hey, Kevin, forget you ever worked here," Welch told him.) Sharer learned patience and humility and went on to become chairman of Amgen (AMGN ). The key experience for Novartis' Vasella, in contrast, came from childhood: He endured years of illness and learned the value of compassion in health care.

The book's second section, which focuses on the five key facets of a leadership plan, is its most useful. First comes "knowing your authentic self," i.e., learning to be self-aware. This proved difficult for David Pottruck, a former CEO of Charles Schwab (SCHW ) who found that his long workdays and aggressiveness made colleagues resent and distrust him. His answer, on the job and in his third marriage, was to force himself to seek feedback on a regular basis. Next, after you attain a measure of self-awareness, you should focus on the values and principles that matter to you. David Gergen and Jon Huntsman, both of whom served in the Nixon White House and experienced the Watergate scandal up close, had to learn to draw ethical lines. Huntsman recalls that "an amoral atmosphere permeated the White House." The growing realization, highlighted by a request to entrap a politician, prompted him to leave.

A third step in the construction of a leadership plan is discovering what motivates you. The most successful leaders, the authors learn, rarely start out wanting to get rich. They are inspired to make a difference, to test their limits, to follow a passion. In many cases, they abandon secure posts for the unknown. Fourth in the authors' scheme is building a support team. Here, we read that many in Silicon Valley, including Palm's Dubinsky, were aided by Intuit (INTU ) Chairman Bill Campbell, whom George calls the "dean of mentoring." Howard Shultz of Starbucks (SBUX ) found inspiration in management guru Warren Bennis. Finally, you should try to forge what George and Sims call "an integrated life" that augments work with such things as family, friends, community service, exercise, church, and whatever else matters in your life.

True North's last section deals with empowering the people around you. The authors ask leaders—including many women (more than in any other part of the book)—to talk about the higher calling of their work. Avon Products' (AVP ) Andrea Jung explains that "what we do is elevate women in the community," while Anne Mulcahy of Xerox (XRX ) talks about trying to motivate personnel as the company struggled to stave off bankruptcy. As elsewhere in the book, this is no victory lap. At one point, Mulcahy recounts pulling over on a highway after a tough day, saying to herself: "I don't know where to go. I don't want to go home. There's just no place to go."

Most readers will relate to at least some of the subjects' struggles, whether they involve watching a sibling die or fighting to keep ego from getting in the way of results. These people come across as fallible, emotional, and, yes, authentic. A series of exercises at the end of each chapter may help readers evaluate their priorities and practices. While True North offers no simple answers, it provides plenty of fodder to help readers figure out for themselves how to become a leader.