Why smart executives fail: Four case histories of how people learn the wrong lessons from history

Sydney Finkelstein

Business History, 2006, vol. 48, issue 2, 153-170

Abstract: In a series of inductive case histories of leadership and strategy, we document the problem of how executives often learn the wrong lessons from history. The costs associated with such misdirected learning are significant, and often tally in the hundreds of millions to billions in losses. These mistakes are seldom due to managerial incompetence or random events, but rather are driven by common patterns of managerial behaviour. The case histories of two American and two Japanese companies highlight how and why apparently talented managers often learn the wrong lessons from history.

Keywords: Leadership; Failure; Strategy; Learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1080/00076790600576727

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