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.
