Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People: The Personal Qualities of Leaders Who Preside Over Major Business Failures

I was emailed this link to a very sobering and insightful article by Sydney Finkelstein -
Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People: The Personal Qualities of Leaders Who Preside Over Major Business Failures.

It contains some great corporate examples, stories and reflections.

Here is the start of the opening paragraphs:

To be spectacularly unsuccessful requires some very special personal qualities.
We're talking about people whose failures were breathtakingly gigantic, who have taken huge, world-renowned business operations and made them almost worthless.
They have caused thousands of people to lose their jobs and thousands of investors to lose their investments.
They've managed to destroy hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars of value.
Their destructive effect is so beyond the range of ordinary human beings that it's on a scale normally associated only with earthquakes and hurricanes.

The personal qualities that make this awesome scale of destruction possible are all the more fascinating because they are regularly found in conjunction with truly admirable qualities.
After all, hardly anyone gets a chance to destroy so much value without also demonstrating a potential to create it.
Most of the great destroyers of value are people of unusual intelligence and remarkable talent. They are almost always capable of .....

Click here to read the rest.

Here is the summary for those who want to cut to the chase:

The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People

1. They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environments, not simply responding to developments in those environments.
2. They identify so completely with the company that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and corporate interests.
3. They seem to have all the answers, often dazzling people with the speed and decisiveness with which they can deal with challenging issues.
4. They make sure everyone is 100% behind them, ruthlessly eliminating anyone who might undermine their efforts.
5. They are consummate company spokespersons, often devoting the largest portion of their efforts to managing and developing the company image.
6. They treat intimidatingly difficult obstacles as temporary impediments to be removed or overcome.
7. They never hesitate to return to the strategies and tactics that made them and their companies successful in the first place.