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Title: Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes by Sydney Finkelstein ISBN: 1-59184-010-4 Publisher: Portfolio Pub. Date: 29 May, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.26 (19 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: When smart executives get stupid...
Comment: To the student of business history, the case studies presented in "Why Smart Executives Fail" reveal why hindsight is truly 20/20. The mistakes of the CEOs cited in the book -- ranging from merely misreading the competition to outright villany -- appear almost frighteningly obvious. In fact, the reader may well wonder where the "smart executives" were when these transgressions were committed.
Indeed, anyone who has read more than a few business books will instantly recognize the lessons presented as both common sense and standard leadership thinking. The writing style is entertaining enough, the reasoning is clear, and the case studies themselves have their own riveting pathos... the business world's answer to VH1's "Behind the Music." But otherwise, this book breaks little new ground.
The book's main thesis is that even smart executives make career-ending mistakes. However, after reading the case studies, one must wonder at what point did these executives quit bringing their brains to the office...
Rating: 5
Summary: Meaningful and Entertaining
Comment: Someone said, and I believe, that "Success is the result of a series of failures from which one has learned." This book is filled with important and interesting failures that you can learn from. Most business books focus on and celebrate successes in the business world, but here the author has focused on some of the largest blunders in recent history (e.g. Enron, Iridium), as well as lesser known mistakes. What makes it so valuable is that Finkelstein has taken a systematic approach to analyzing these missteps to find patterns that will be recognizable to anyone who has worked in a business. Beyond that, the book offers excellent insight on ways to get back on track and avoid a fate similar to the companies studied.
As for the enjoyable part, the book is told through a series of anecdotes and in-depth retellings of mostly familiar blunders. Reinforced with insider interviews and extensive research of the contemporary media coverage, these stories come alive making it very readable. This combination of message and method make "Why Smart Executives Fail" an extremely valuable and somewhat unique resource.
Rating: 2
Summary: Disappointing, shallow book
Comment: I read this book based on a positive newspaper review and was very disappointed. Finkelstein puts together a long list of reasons for failure, things to look for in companies which will fail soon and ways to avoid failure.
One problem is that the study is flawed by a lack of anything like a control group. For example, he makes a big deal about Motorola's reluctance to venture into digital cell phones in the mid 90s -- surely a big recent corporate failure -- but then doesn't examine a situation where a company (correctly) refused to overhaul its product line (such instances do occur). The lesson he draws is excessively oversimplified and I'm not sure it applies anywhere beyond the cell phone market of the mid 90s.
Another example: Finkelstein points out to cases of CEO hubris, in which an invincible company head leads the company to ruin for various reasons (poor listening, a sense of invincibility, a reluctance to tolerate criticism, et al). The potential dangers of an excessively headstrong leader is no news to either business or general readers. But Finkelstein doesn't acknowledge that headstrong leaders can often be vital assets to a company. He doesn't go into enough detail and instead delivers an incomplete, unsatisfying answer to the problem such CEOs present.
In general, the book is marked by shallow analysis, repetitive and overarching review of the case studies, and underdeveloped understanding of marketing and finance (for example, Finkelstein makes a howling mistake in discussing Tyco's accounting), let alone technological trends.
The sheer amount of repetition is also unhelpful -- Finkelstein must refer to the Motorola analysis a dozen times in the second half of the book without ever expanding on it -- and the endless series of lists in the book's second half... well, how can one really "use" 12 bullet points from list #7? Bad organization, which reflects an inability to boil down his case into a shorter, more concise summary.
Sophisticated businesspeople will have no use for this sort of analysis. Less advanced readers will not profit from the book's weak organization, which betrays a lack of thought. Not recommended.
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