“The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives” by Sydney Finkelstein, Ivey Business Journal, Jan/Feb 2004.
I recently passed by Finkelstein’s book, on which this article is based, as I was picking up Social Life of Information, Linked and Six Degrees. (My quest for information on network theory continues.) I wish I hadn’t.
This article is both fun from a “let’s watch someone else go down” experience and a timely reminder of the importance of the virtues, especially humility. There’s a reason that the CEOs of Jim Collins’s Good to Great companies exhibit the opposite of these habits. Take a look and see how much you would match up if given the chance.
I mean, thank God I’m part of a subculture that looks down on any form of external display of wealth or I’d be a goner, as prone to showboating as I am. I think that would cover me on habits 1-4.
Anyone care to do a review of the RO implications? Mark Van Clieaf already has in “Are Boards and CEOs Accountable for the Right Level of Work?“, also in the IBJ. Those smart Canadians and Canadiennes!
Plus, it’s a neat antidote to the Seven Habits of the Heart That Knows….
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