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Why CEOs Fail
Book

Why CEOs Fail

The 11 Behaviors That Can Derail Your Climb to the Top and How to Manage Them

David L. Dotlich and Peter C. Cairo
Jossey-Bass, 2003

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

If you wonder why all those superstar CEOs suddenly veered off course, executive coaches David L. Dotlich and Peter C. Cairo offer an engaging work of psychoanalysis to answer your question. Leadership failures can result from 11 character traits, either deep-seated personality faults or qualities that once were beneficial but became problematic. The authors offer recognizable case studies and specific advice to bolster their case that these flaws derail leaders. The culprit characteristics can seem a bit general, an inevitable concern in a book seeking simple explanations for human folly. getAbstract.com recommends this easy-to-digest volume to leaders and those who endure them. This is just the ticket for bosses who want to address their possible personality pitfalls before they commit career suicide.

Take-Aways

  • CEOs do not fail because they lack ambition or talent, but because they have one or more of 11 fatal personality flaws, starting with arrogance, melodrama and volatility.
  • The other flaws are: excess caution, distrust, aloofness, eccentricity, mischievousness, perfectionism, passive resistance and being overly eager to please.
  • Arrogant CEOs (Al Dunlap, Jeffrey K. Skilling) believe they are always right.

About the Authors

Executive coaches David L. Dotlich, Ph.D., and Peter C. Cairo, Ph.D., are partners in CDR International. Dotlich is a former executive vice president of two corporations. Cairo is on the faculty of the Columbia University Business School. Dotlich and Cairo are the co-authors of Action Coaching and Unnatural Leadership: Going Against Intuition and Experience to Develop Ten New Leadership Instincts.

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