"Open a newspaper lately and you're almost certain to find it: the headline that yet another CEO has been fired or forced to resign. Recently, it was Terry Semel, chief executive of Yahoo, Inc.
He's in good company. An ever-increasing number of corporate leaders have endured similarly well-publicized losses, including heads of such companies as Hewlett-Packard, Morgan Stanley, Apple, Staples and General Electric.
Once the headlines disappear, a question emerges: can career and reputation be restored after a major setback?
Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward (Harvard Business School Press) gives a brilliantly written and expertly researched answer. While the authors highlight the ups and downs of well-known corporate leaders, they have written an inspiring and insightful book that applies to anyone attempting to overcome diversity.
Sonnenfeld previously wrote about the ending of careers in The Hero's Farewell. He is a regular commentator on PBS's "Nightly Business Report," and NPR's "Marketplace." He has appeared as a leadership expert on CNBC, Today Show, Dateline, ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN as well as in numerous publications. He is the senior associate dean for executive programs at Yale University's School of Management as well as founder and president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
In this work, the authors suggest that the idea of rebounding from failure is not a subject often addressed in business. Ironically, this is at a time of such rapid change that there is no cruise control on which leaders can coast. Further, the authors point out, media coverage often takes delight in humiliating those we envy. Just ask Martha Stewart.
Stewart's story is one of several that are told in Firing Back. Other business leaders who have lost and then regained even greater positions include Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack and Donald Trump.
That the authors gained the confidence of so many high-profile leaders is significant. The book is steeped in researched specifics as well as information from direct sources that make it both more personable and intriguing. You find yourself cheering for the comeback of some of these fallen ones.
In other instances, the opposite is true. Unlike most of us, these CEOs jumped from their positions with a golden parachute of compensation firmly in place. Terry Semel's change of fortunes, for example, may have been exacerbated by his 2006 compensation that has been estimated by some at $71 million dollars. Given the company's declining revenue growth and share prices, some critics denounced this as unwarranted. You and I are more likely to worry about making house payments if we are fired than many of these individuals.
The authors, however, present a keen perspective that singles this book out from other business blandishments. Early in the book, they step back from the world of work and examine the elements of resilience from adversity in the context of different fields. Here they present tragedies, failures and successes drawn from many truly horrific scenarios of human suffering in the contemporary world. While career distress is rationally far less traumatic than many other catastrophic losses, it remains a reality. Being fired is ranked at number eight by stress researchers among life's most stressful events, after the death of family members, jail time and personal injury or illness.
Firing Back develops a five-step strategy for restoring career and reputation:
1. Fight not flight: facing up to the issue. This simply means directly confronting the reality of the situation.
2. Recruit others into battle: social networks and collateral damage. One of the strongest messages conveyed in the book is the need to build strong relationships.
3. Rebuild heroic stature. Simply by being in a leadership position, leaders are often blamed for the misdeeds or performance of the organization.
4. Prove your mettle: regaining trust and credibility. Ultimately, the leader only begins to regain their stature through action.
5. Discover a new heroic mission: clearing the past and charting the future. A career crisis can be liberating and an opportunity to transcend past triumphs.
Firing Back is a superb guide to leadership lessons for making a comeback. In the capable hands of the authors, it provides not only examples from great leaders, but also important lessons for all of us who face our own career crisis.
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