Customer Reviews

Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As I began to read this book, I was reminded of Jack Dempsey's observation that "champions get up when they can't." All of us have encountered professional setbacks of one kind or another and some of them are especially difficult to overcome. Most of the examples which Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward cite in this book involve CEOs who either "fired back"and eventually prevailed after a career setback (e.g. Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Bernie Marcus, Jimmy Carter, and George Foreman) or never fully recovered from them (e.g. Jill Barad, John Scully, Leona Helmsley, Jacques Nasser, and Linda Warnaco). The former demonstrate the importance of "seven lessons to turn tragedy into triumph" which Sonnenfeld and Ward recommend; the latter demonstrate the probable consequences of failing to understand and then apply those lessons on which a five-step strategy - "for rescuing and restoring a career and reputation after a devastating professional setback" -- is based.

It would be a disservice to Sonnenfeld and Ward as well as to those who read this brief commentary if I were to list the "lessons" and "steps" which are best revealed within the narrative of this remarkably thoughtful, eloquent, and practical book. Each is anchored in a real-world context. Each is relevant to anyone now embarked upon or preparing for a professional career. I mention this last point because some who consider purchasing this book may incorrectly assume that its material will be of greatest value only to senior-level executives. On the contrary, all of Sonnenfeld and Ward's observations and recommendations can be of substantial benefit to anyone who wishes to (a) avoid "a devastating professional setback" or (b) recover from one.

In essence, this book provides Sonnenfeld and Ward's response to this question: "How can I overcome a professional setback?" To their credit, at no time do they minimize or trivialize the impact of a professional setback. (Presumably each has experienced a few of his own.) They fully appreciate the difficulty of overcoming the debilitating psychological stress of failure, the challenges of failure to one's reputation (both personal and professional), social biases about failure, and other challenges which may be unique to one's company, its culture, and its industry. If not "tragic" or "devastating," a setback almost always lowers one's self-esteem, is embarrassing, and has adverse financial consequences. More often than not, there is collateral damage to one's family members and/or to one's close colleagues at work so guilt also comes into play.

Recall the Dempsey quotation provided earlier. Presumably Sonnenfeld and Ward agree with Dempsey on the importance of courage and also with me that it is much easier to summon the courage to "get up" when you are convinced that the situation is not hopeless, and, that you can indeed recover if you understand what has happened, why it has happened, and how you can - and should -- respond to it. Of course, it is preferable to avoid a setback in the first place. ("If `ifs' and `buts' were fruits and nuts....") Most of us are not so fortunate and I, for one, have learned the most important lessons from failures (mine and others') rather than from successes. Whether or not a given failure is our "fault," it is certainly our responsibility to take full advantage of the learning opportunity it offers, and then to make positive and productive use of whatever truth has been revealed.

It is interesting to examine the lives of "great leaders [who] rebound after career disasters" but, in my opinion, it is imperative to examine with rigor and candor one's own values, attitudes, and behavior - especially when struggling to understand and then recover from a professional setback which is invariably a personal setback, also. As Sonnenfeld and Ward make crystal clear, this journey of personal discovery is by no means easy. Nonetheless, it is one which must be initiated with commitment and then sustained by persistence throughout one's life. If and when setbacks occur - and they always do - the practical advice which Sonnenfeld and Ward offer in this book will enable those who absorb and digest it to understand and (yes) accept what has happened, understand why it has happened, and then leverage that wisdom effectively and productively, not only in their careers but in their personal lives.

While I'm not in the league of the leaders featured in 'Firing Back' it
has had a profound impact on how I dealt with a recent set back. I realize
now, that I have a choice - even in defeat. The advice is practical and
quickly changed how I viewed my situation. I now know I'm not alone and am
excited about my new path of 'Firing Back'.

Unfortunately, much of the literature on CEOs depicts them as either Gods , demons or idiots. I have worked with many CEOs and have found them to be human beings - just like the rest of us. Jeff Sonnenfeld is one of the few authors who has actually interacted with hundreds of CEOs. This book depicts the 'human drama' of success and failure at the top of the executive world. It also has lessons about defeat, courage and perserverence that we can all use. Lots of books talk about what we can learn from success stories - few talk about what we can learn when we fail. From my experince, most of of learning comes from our losses - not our victories. We will all face adversity. We will all fail. 'Firing Back' gives us some great ideas about how to make a comeback when that happens.

I bought this from a magazine recommendation. The recommendation highlighted the telling of past business titans who had failed and how they rebounded. I assumed I would have chapters on each different story, a beginning, middle and end. Instead, this is more a business management book on the theoretical discussion of comebacks, why some work and some don't. The business biographies are there, but they are told in short staccato versions to prove a point and not fully explored. Nothing wrong with that, just not what I had hoped for. For others, this book will be perfect. But if you are looking for multiple business biographies as was I, this is not for you.

A profound study of CEO career setbacks and comebacks. As we are all CEOs of our own lives, there is no one who wouldn't profit from a close read, and re-read, of this excellent volume, including the latest fallen, e.g Michael Vick, Alberto Gonzales, Don Imus, Dan Rather, etc.

Many great quotes, Eastern wisdom to Broadway, telling anecdotes and insightful studies contained herein, but more than just anecdotes, the authors lay out a five-step blueprint on making a comeback: 1) fight, don't flee, 2) recruit others to help, 3) rebuild heroic stature, 4) prove your mettle and 5) rediscover your heroic mission.

Highly recommended. Rx: give it to a young manager, may just save him/her tons of grief down the road. Review by John A. Sarkett, author, Extraordinary Comebacks.

I'm about a third of the way through this book and have had to stop reading several times, in sheer amazement. Was an editor from Harvard Press involved in this publication at all? It's full of run-on sentences, missing words, typos, repetitions (sometimes within the same sentence) and just plain bad writing.

I've come to expect grammar and spelling mistakes in popular fiction, but these authors should know better -- they're university professors. This book is just astoundingly badly edited. The authors need to pull it off the market, have someone go through it who knows how to write, and issue a revised version. Their many good points are being lost in the debris of poor composition.

I just finished reading this book, and though it could be improved on, it's unique and helpful. At times the authors try to stress how helpful the experiences of CEOs are to us "little people" and at other times they try to stress how special CEOs are. Although I'm not a CEO, many of the concepts and examples in this book apply to me, even some of the ones that supposedly only apply to CEOs. For example, CEOs operate within a small community and their reputations are very important for future employability. I work in a very tiny subspecialty of my profession and my biggest worry about finding a new job is exactly that: what are people saying about the way I left my job? Is anyone saying destructive things behind my back? I don't think they are, but it's validating to read a whole chapter on how important a professional reputation is for future job searching. They urge people to take control of their story and how to frame it in the least destructive way. The division into external and internal obstacles was useful too. I'm still reeling from the emotional toll my career crisis took on me. I got a pretty good severence package so I have time to take care of myself, and I plan to follow much of the advice in this book. I showed this book to my therapist because many people need therapy to help them overcome career challenges and she found it interesting too.

The best thing about this book is that it uses real-life examples with real names, most of which are household names. These people have been excellent role models for people who have recovered from disasters, but this book gives the insight into how and why they did what they did and why they were effective.

There needs to be a new edition, though, because Carly Fiorino has bounced back! Good for her. I want to know how she did it.

I am very pleased to be able to recommend this excellent book. I am an admitted fan of Dr. Sonnenfeld, and both loved and recommended his earlier work on CEO's, "The Hero's Farewell", to collegues, friends, and family. It was with much excitement that I purchased this new work, and my excitement was not misplaced. With his new writing partner Andrew Ward, Dr. Sonnenfeld has managed to take a large number of fairly academic concepts and make them entirely accessable. Much more than some dusty scholarly treatment, the book reads like the best of the popular business best sellers, captivating the reader. It is engaging in both intellectual and emotional planes.

The area of CEO leadership is one in which Dr. Sonnenfeld is unquestionably one of the global experts, and with this book he helps to distill his huge breadth of knowledge into a tonic that we can all absorb. I found this to be an excellent and informative read. Congratulations to both Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward for their first rate and accessable work.

A must have for any executive that during these turbulent times has been laid off. Also invaluable reading for head hunters advising displaced executives

Sonnefeld and Ward deliver a book who's title delivers exactly what you would expect; understanding failure, how to reconstruct, rebound and fire back. Though the first 2/3rd of the book great care is taken to acknowledge failure and the barriers faced in an organization on the path to recovery. These are the most poignant sections considering most people rarely see the true causes of mistakes and the barriers they face in correcting them. In the remaining 1/3rd the rebuilding of your heroic stature is approached.

This is a 4 star book on merit of its content though given a 3 star rating because of dueling writing styles among the two authors and overuse of underdeveloped examples making portions of the book an awkward read.