The Rise of the Rogue Executive: How Good Companies Go Bad and How to Stop the Destruction - Hardcover

Sayles, Leonard R.; Smith, Cynthia J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0131477722 ISBN 13: 9780131477728

Publisher: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall, 2005

Synopsis

Billions of dollars continue to be lost by companies and investors due to the pervasive impact of manipulative, self-serving executives. Financial scandals aren't unknown in U.S. business history, but today's growing problem of executive excesses and self-serving behavior is unprecedented in both its persistence and pervasiveness. Executives continue to plunder their companies and rip off their stockholders. This book reveals the true breadth and depth of corporate corruption—including flagrant new cases that haven't received the publicity they deserve. More important, it answers the questions that matter most: Why now? And how can we stop it? The authors identify powerful forces that cut across management, finance, the economy, politics, and even psychology. They identify rarely discussed contributing factors, such as the consulting boom, new technologies used by accounting and auditing professionals, the transformation of business schools, journalism, and the media in general. This book addresses both criminal activity and the not-quite-illegal abuses that are now endemic in the executive suite—abuses that challenge the underpinnings of capitalism. Its deep insights will help both leaders and citizens understand exactly what's happened and what is needed to stem the tide of destructive behavior.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"Sayles and Smith have covered all the bases with a comprehensive, yet fascinating, analysis of what has been ailing our capital market system. A system that has given us such high standards of living. A recommended read for those who not only want to understand what is going on in the corporate world, but why it is going on. Congratulations."

―Frank Kolhatkar, Retired Chairman and Executive Director of the Global Financial Services Industries Practice, Deloitte

"This book confronts, head-on, the problems that have beset American, and world, business over the last decade. The authors boldly go to the heart of the problem; to a business culture that has lost sight of fundamentals in pursuit of the illusions of rapid growth and personal gain. This is a call for action, by CEOs, boards of directors, investors, regulators, and the public at large, everyone with a stake in our business system. Anyone worried about the future of American business and American corporate culture should read this book."

―Morgan Witzel, Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Finance Review and Columnist, The Financial Times

"The authors have provided a 'must read' autopsy of just about all that's wrong with American business today. It is a 'must read' for investors interested in why we are where we are."

―Graef Crystal, Pay Expert and Columnist, Bloomberg News

"Sayles and Smith make a compelling case that rogue business executives received a lot of help from others: economists, business schools, apologists, a compliant Congress, under funded regulatory agencies, a gullible press, as well as sleazy professional auditors and accountants―all of which contributed to the great market crash of 2000 and the persistent corporate scandals. Seeking unprecedented individual gains, many members of the business community forgot their commitment to personal integrity, which maintains an essential trust among strangers, which binds all members in the larger society."

―James Kuhn, Courtney C. Brown Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University

"We can pretend that we live in a progressive society and are protected as citizens and investors, or we can read the evidence in Sayles' and Smith's book and start to face reality. This book is a strong reminder of the breadth and depth of white collar crime and greed's piercing and pervasive impact on all of us."

―L.S. (Al) Rosen, Forensic Accountant, Rosen & Associates Limited

Billions of dollars continue to be lost by companies and investors due to the pervasive impact of manipulative, self-serving executives. Financial scandals aren't unknown in U.S. business history, but today's growing problem of executive excesses and self-serving behavior is unprecedented in both its persistence and pervasiveness. Executives continue to plunder their companies and rip off their stockholders. This book reveals the true breadth and depth of corporate corruption―including flagrant new cases that haven't received the publicity they deserve. More important, it answers the questions that matter most: Why now? And how can we stop it? The authors identify powerful forces that cut across management, finance, the economy, politics, and even psychology. They identify rarely discussed contributing factors, such as the consulting boom, new technologies used by accounting and auditing professionals, the transformation of business schools, journalism, and the media in general. This book addresses both criminal activity and the not-quite-illegal abuses that are now endemic in the executive suite―abuses that challenge the underpinnings of capitalism. Its deep insights will help both leaders and citizens understand exactly what's happened and what is needed to stem the tide of destructive behavior.

• How the tail started wagging the dog

• The unanticipated consequences of large-scale executive stock ownership

• The technology of deceit

• How information technology makes abuse easier to execute―and easier to hide

• The silence of the lambs

• How the media and academia contribute to the problem

• The mythic executive

• Overwhelming greed, excessive compensation...and feet of clay

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About the Author:

Dr. Leonard R. Sayles received his doctorate from MIT in Industrial Economics. He has been a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business for four decades; now Emeritus.

In a series of research projects and books, he helped transform conventional views of business leadership. His widely-cited leadership studies won a number of national awards in America, and many were republished in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

He advised the head of NASA in its formative years and published a major study of its management methods sponsored by the National Academy of Science. He also has been a consultant to major American corporations.

He lives with his wife in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and Naples, Florida.

Dr. Cynthia J. Smith is an anthropologist who has conducted numerous field-based studies of businesses. She is co-author of Inside Arthur Andersen: Shifting Values, Unexpected Consequences. This book is an analysis of events deriving out of the Enron collapse that led to the fall of Arthur Andersen. The book traces the decades-long shifts in values of the firm, with emphasis on changes in leadership over time. Dr. Smith was a member of Arthur Andersen's Management Development Group during the 1980s.

During the 1990s, Dr. Smith spent several years collecting field-based data on three Silicon Valley-based, "new economy" companies. She was inside each of these organizations for one to two years, which makes the data distinctive from typical academic studies or journalistic access. These primary research materials are used in our analysis.

Dr. Smith is a lecturer at The Ohio State University.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0131477722
• ISBN 13: 9780131477728
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288