Description
A former investment banker and venture capitalist, Hayward (Leeds School of Business, U. of Colorado, Boulder) explores the sources of false confidence among executives and specific approaches for their management. Following an examination of the roots of hubris, the text features case studies of failures and successes, including Apple Computer's Steve Jobs and John Sculley, Carly Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard, Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway, eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a comparison of Scaled Composites and NASA, Vivendi CEO Jean Marie Messier, and Michael Dell of Dell Inc. Hayward identifies links between solid executive decision making and successful business outcomes, and offers frameworks and concepts allowing executives the benefits of a healthy ego without the dangerous excesses of executive hubris. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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No one executive is immune from that difficult-to-distinguish line that divides the self-confidence required of a successful CEO from the hubris seen at the root of so many corporate scandals today. We can count Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Martha Stewart, and Jack Welch among the business leaders who have been infected with hubris at various stages of their careers – and seen their lives and companies suffer as a result. Every executive is vulnerable to hubris when they become dependent on wealth, status, and other extrinsic rewards for their sense of worth; when they embark on ventures that cross beyond their capabilities; when they unduly rely on the advice and input of others to execute their vision; and when they simply assume that their plans for the future will be realized without obstacle. Understanding these four key dynamics and the mistakes made as a result of falling prey to them will pave the road for business professionals to understand how they can guard against their own hubris while still building upon their unparalleled will to reach even greater levels of success.
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