Raytheon CEO William Swanson's book plagiarizes engineering

[kenvlach]

Whilst purveying the '101 Dumbest Moments in Business
The year's biggest boors, buffoons, and blunderers'
on CNNMoney.com, came across this tidbit:
"In April, just nine months after a Business 2.0 cover story trumpets the wisdom of Raytheon CEO William Swanson and his folksy hit book, Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management, a San Diego engineer makes a shocking discovery: 17 of Swanson's 33 rules are similar - and in some cases identical - to those in The Unwritten Rules of Engineering, a 1944 text by UCLA professor W.J. King."

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0701/gallery.101dumbest_2007/24.html

Anyone know which San Diego engineer deserves credit?

 

[josephv]

FYI here are the 25 rules:

http://www.proactive-coach.com/business/swanson.htm

Apparently, some were "borrowed" from Donald Rumsfeld.

 

[LHA]

Hmmm.....Rules of Management from Rumsfeld...I better keep my liberal comments to my liberal self...

Engineering is the practice of the art of science - Steve

 

[Comcokid]

Hmmm.....Rules of Management from Rumsfeld...I better keep my frustrated comments to my conservative self...

Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.

 

[michfan]

Or just an excuse to not have an original thought.

Hmmm...Rumsfeld is a Republican, isn't he...?

 

[kontiki99]

Despite the fact I'm not a religious or political conservative, I thought some of Rumsfeld's rules had merit.

Despite the public/party persona most of these individuals are high performers and are probably worth listening to out of the spotlight.

I actually made the donation they asked for at Raytheon's web site for a couple copies of Swanson’s Rules. I thought they would make good Christmas gifts.

The donation went to one of the organizations promoting math for kids. They decided not to send the copies after the story broke.

To penalize someone so much for a charity fund raising slip up doesn't make sense to me.