Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes - Softcover

Finkelstein, Sydney

 
9781591840459: Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1591840457 ISBN 13: 9781591840459
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2004

Synopsis

Bob Pittman and AOL Time Warner. Jean Marie Messier and Vivendi. Jill Barad and Mattel. Dennis Kozlowski and Tyco. It's an all too common scenario. A great company breaks from the pack; the analysts are in love; the smiling CEO appears on the cover of Fortune. Two years later, the company is in flames, the pension plan is bleeding, the stock is worthless.

What goes wrong in these cases? Usually it seems that top management made some incredibly stupid mistakes. But the people responsible are almost always remarkably intelligent and usually have terrific track records. Just as puzzling as the fact that brilliant managers can make bad mistakes is the way they so often magnify the damage. Once a company has made a serious mis-step, it often seems as though it can't do anything right. How does this happen? Instead of rectifying their mistakes, why do business leaders regularly make them worse?

To answer these questions, Sydney Finkelstein has carried out the largest research project ever devoted to corporate mistakes and failures. In WHY SMART EXECUTIVES FAIL, he and his research team uncover-with startling clarity and unassailable documentation-the causes regularly responsible for major business breakdowns.

He relates the stories of great business disasters and demonstrates that there are specific, identifiable ways in which many businesses regularly make themselves vulnerable to failure.
The result is a truly indispensable, practical, must-read book that explains the mechanics of business failure, how to avoid them, and what to do if they happen.

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About the Author

A professor of strategy and leadership at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, Sydney Finkelstein is a leading figure in worldwide executive education. His writing has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Organizational Dynamics, and other leading journals.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date
2004
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1591840457
ISBN 13 
9781591840459
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
336

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781591840107: Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  1591840104 ISBN 13:  9781591840107
Publisher: Portfolio, 2003
Hardcover