Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008
We’re reviewed in today’s Wall Street Journal. Click here to read the full review. Here is an excerpt:
“Billion-Dollar Lessons” is an insightful and crisply written book, one that offers wisely chosen and well- narrated case studies but also good advice, such as urging companies to appoint an in-house “devil’s advocate” to challenge the unhealthy unanimity that accompanies many major decisions.
The authors also urge executives to pose tough questions when they embark on dangerous courses of action. In a merger, for instance, find out “who in the combined organization will resist the attempts for revenue synergies. The first place to look, of course, is at those whose compensation will be hurt.” About aggressive accounting, key questions include whether public exposure would be disastrous. So ask: “Can the strategy withstand sunshine? Can the strategy withstand storms?” And finally: “When does it stop?”
If only people on Wall Street had asked these questions before embracing the strategy of holding the global financial system in thrall to a mountain of dodgy mortgage assets.
