American Business Leadership doesn't work

America's help wanted ad should read, "New business leadership needed to build confidence and jump-start the economy. Only those willing to replace stale management styles with a Greenfields Approach need apply." 1,600,000 pink slips in 2001 and over 1,000,000 manufacturing jobs permanently lost since 1999. With the 18-month club [many CEO's lasting less than 18-months, with 1,000 departing since 1999 alone] America's Business Leadership doesn't work.

America's Business Leadership   
                 doesn't work

·   America's help wanted ad should read, "New business leadership needed to build confidence and jump-start the economy. Only those willing to replace stale management styles with a Greenfields Approach need apply."
1,600,000 pink slips in 2001 and over 1,000,000 manufacturing jobs permanently lost since 1999.
With the 18-month club [many CEO's lasting less than 18-months, with 1,000 departing since 1999 alone] America's Business Leadership doesn't work.

·   Company Directors are also often part of the problem. Too many company directors are part of the old-boy network and asleep at the wheel. Many CEO's recommend the appointment of Directors as a 'rubber stamp,' rather than for their expertise in the primary business disciplines. Directors should be in place to test assumptions and ensure the business strategy is sound and that there is sustainable, profitable, long-term growth. Also, they must take the lead in senior executive succession planning.

·   When they build their HQ building it's time to sell their stock. The more opulent the surroundings, the more decadent the company. Enron may be a case in point.

Egocentric CEO's who got caught up in pursuing Baldridge quality awards and then drove their companies into Chapter 11 had a similar problem. The problem occurs if the CEO or senior executive team are largely ego-driven in the first place or become successful and start pursuing egocentric ideas... losing sight of the core business. Prime examples of leadership failure and how we are losing our competitiveness in this one-world market.

For further information contact Denis Orme 832-428-7822.
     or principal@leader-success.com
Denis Orme has consulted to over 200 organizations internationally - from Fortune 500 companies to government entities and business startups.

He is author of the recent Book: Lessons From Leadership Failures: The Greenfields Approach. ISBN 0-75965-177-9