Coca-Cola: the most recognizable and successful brand in the world, one that extends across languages, cultures, and boundaries. The story of building, marketing, and re-creating the Coca-Cola brand has never been told by an insider until this remarkable candid book. Inside Coca-Cola offers a unique perspective: the first book by a company CEO whose more than forty-year career at Coca-Cola took him around the world and from the ground floor to the top.

When Neville Isdell retired as Chairman in 2009, he left behind a remarkable legacy of knowledge and accomplishment. Born in Ireland, Isdell moved as a boy with his family to Zambia; as a young man, he took a job working for a small Coca-Cola bottler there. Learning the gritty business of soft drink manufacture, distribution, and sales was an education in hard-nosed negotiation and diplomacy and led to several hair-raising encounters in South Africa’s complex political climate. From those beginnings, Isdell learned how to squeeze profits from even the most unpromising markets, and how to motivate employees and satisfy customers at every level.

In a career that took him and his wife and child from Africa to Australia, the Philippines, India, Germany, and finally the United States, Isdell opened new markets, conquered entrenched competitors, and soothed public controversies that threatened the brand’s integrity. His personal skills and understanding of cultural differences helped to develop a practice of corporate responsibility–what Isdell calls “connected capitalism”– that partners companies with local communities for mutual benefit.

When Isdell accepted the position of CEO in 2004, the company was in disarray: its business declining, its stock down, and its brand tarnished by a series of controversial incidents. By 2009, Coca-Cola’s fortunes had turned dramatically for the better, and Isdell retired knowing that he had helped to reenergize and refocus the company he loved.

Candid, entertaining, and filled with real-world business wisdom, Inside Coca-Cola is a fascinating account of a career inside a legendary business.