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Something about management looks so easy that we all think we could succeed where others fail. But management is really not easy. Managers are expected to show skill in finance, product development, marketing, manufacturing, technology, and more. It's no wonder that most managers seem to underperform. Nevertheless, there are a few around who exemplify what it takes to achieve greatness. They aren't the usual suspects we read about. They include the managers many of us know personally. They include the generations of Rosenbluths at Rosenbluth Travel, who demonstrated the indispensable quality of imagination in reinventing their business again and again. They include Bill Sells of Johns-Manville, who personified integrity in the way he applied to its fiberglass business the harsh lessons of his company's experience with asbestos. They include Ralph Stayer of Johnsonville Sausage, whose determination to overcome his own need for complete control helped make him great. And they include the courageous George Cattabiani of Westinghouse Steam Turbine Divison, who threw himself into the lions' den of a hostile labor union and came out with, if not pussycats, at least partners.

In this interview, Robert McDermott tells how he has built customer service into the very fiber of the insurance company he heads--USAA. His successful service recipe has three principal ingredients: 1) A niche market (active and former military officers and their families); 2) Progressive employment practices and commitment to continuous development of its work force; and 3) Innovative use of technology, including imaging and expert systems.

Paul Ballisarian, owner of Ballisarian Beef, hired Mike Post in the 1960s when his children were too young to enter the business. Mike is an innovator whose contributions have resulted in more than half the business's profits. Now Mike wants half ownership of his part of the business. Paul's son, Gregory, would rather see Mike leave than give him part of the business, while Paul's daughter, Katherine, believes Mike should be made CEO. Five family business experts - John A. Welsh, formerly of Southern Methodist University's Caruth Institute of Owner-Managed Business and founder of Flow Laboratories; Joseph A. Baute, Markem Corp.; Charles E. "Gus" Whalen, Jr., Warren Featherbone Co.; Wendy C. Handler, Babson College; and Harry Levinson, The Levinson Institute - discuss the issues presented.