Flirting with Disaster: Why Accidents Are Rarely Accidental (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Michael Ellsberg (Author), Foreward by Daniel Ellsberg (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Chernobyl and Katrina. Challenger and Columbia. BP and Vioxx. The Iraq War. Were these unavoidable misfortunes that no one could possibly have imagined? Hardly. All of them were disasters that could have been prevented, or whose damaging repercussions could have been mitigated.

Despite warnings of impending disaster, preemptive action is rarely taken by those who have the ability to do so. How do smart, high-powered people, leaders of global corporations, national institutions, even nations, often get it so wrong? While most investigations focus on the technical causes of disaster, Flirting With Disaster examines the psychological, social, and cultural impediments to whistle-blowing, showing what we can do to reduce the possibility of disasters happening at all.

Analyzing such phenomena as bystander behavior and the butterfly effect, amid a series of instructive case studies--not only the aforementioned shuttle crashes, natural disasters, and industrial accidents, but also Arthur Andersen's shady accounting at Enron; the 1994 Mexican peso crisis that nearly caused an international monetary meltdown; and the American sub-prime lending crisis that emerged in August 2007, revealing the country's unhealthy dependence on consumer credit--Marc Gerstein, an organizational psychologist, urges a re-evaluation of the timidity, distorted thinking, errors of judgment and self-serving conduct that result in disasters from the boardroom to the halls of academe to the Oval Office. Daniel Ellsberg, renowned and respected for releasing the Pentagon Papers, offers a foreword and a powerful afterword addressing what happens "When Leaders are the Problem."

Flirting With Disaster is a must-read for those who want to foster truth-telling in their organizations, and head off-disasters in the making. At once alarming, entertaining and hopeful, this is a book that offers very real and practical lessons for everyday life.

About the Author

Marc Gerstein holds a Masters and Ph.D. in Management from the Sloan School of Management, MIT. He has taught at Columbia Business School and Sloan. He currently heads Marc Gerstein Associates, Ltd., a management consulting firm. His writing on strategy and organizational dynamics has been published by the Sloan Management Review, the Journal of Business Strategy, and Stanford University. Michael Ellsberg is a developmental editor who did extensive work on his father Daniel Ellsberg’s bestseller Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. Daniel Ellsberg worked on the top secret study of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam, later known as the Pentagon Papers. He is a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, government wrongdoing, and the need for patriotic whistleblowing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Union Square Press (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402753039
• ISBN-13: 978-1402753039
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #486,025 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth your time, July 8, 2008

By	Niall F. Macalevey (Singapore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very good book. I have a professional interest in the topic-specifically the prevention of Structural Engineering failures. This book covers failures of many kinds: engineering, financial, medical, and military. It shows that the same social causes underlie all these failures whatever field they come from. The focus is on the behaviour of people rather than just the technical causes. The portion on "by-stander" behaviour is especially good: the natural tendency to give-in to the pressure to conform and so not speak out, even if you have the information to prevent a disaster.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Accidents in Life, May 31, 2008

By	Joshua Rosenthal "Institute for Integrative N... - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book gives people access to understand that so called accidents are predictable. As we move into the 21st century, now is the time to take steps to avoid future accidents from happening. Combine all this with the section called "When Leaders are the Problem" and you have a powerful guidebook to creating a healthier, happier future for one and all.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dissenting Opinions Must be Encouraged, July 13, 2009

By	Larry Underwood "Author, 'Life Under the Corp... (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews

Marc S Gertein has compiled a remarkably compelling perspective on the perplexing topic of human nature; and in the process, we are left with a better understanding of why so many things turn into complete disasters.

Human beings simply don't like conflict; they don't like inconvenience; and they never understand that little things cause major problems. Our society frowns on the naysayer and looks down on anyone voicing an opinion that doesn't fit in with popular belief. That's why so many things go wrong; the majority opinion is quite often ill-advised.

If we are to learn anything from this outstandng book, it is the fact that disasters can be prevented; whether they be financial disasters for corporations, or actual disasters of life and property.

In order to prevent these disasters, however, we must develop a mentality of encouraging dissent; of looking at a situation from a variety of perspectives; and just because the head-honcho has one opinion about something, that doesn't mean that person is right. Unfortunately, some are wrong more often than right. And that only leads to disaster.