This book integrates and assesses the vast and rapidly growing literature on strategic leadership, which is the study of top executives and their effects on organizations. The basic premise is that in order to understand why organizations do the things they do, or perform the way they do, we need to deeply comprehend the people at the top-- their experiences, abilities, values, social connections, aspirations, and other human features. The actions--or inactions--of a relatively small number of key people at the apex of an organization can dramatically affect organizational outcomes.
The scope of strategic leadership includes individual executives, especially chief executive officers (CEOs), groups of executives (top management teams, or TMTs); and governing bodies (particularly boards of directors). Accordingly, the book addresses an array of topics regarding CEOs (e.g., values, personality, motives, demography, succession, and compensation); TMTs (including composition, processes, and dynamics); and boards of directors (why boards look and behave the way they do, and the consequences of board profiles and behaviors).
Strategic Leadership synthesizes what is known about strategic leadership and indicates new research directions. The book is meant primarily for scholars who strive to assess and understand the phenomena of strategic leadership. It offers a considerable foundation on which professionals involved in executive search, compensation, appraisal and staffing, as well as board members who evaluate executive performance and potential, might build their tools and perspectives.
"A thorough representative overview.... In addition to doing an excellent job of bringing together what is known about strategic leadership, the authors provide a wealth of insightful models, propositions, and other suggestions for scholarly research aimed at advancing the field of strategic leadership. This sophisticated, well-written book is a valuable addition to the literature.... Highly recommended."--CHOICE
About the Author
Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, where he teaches courses on Leadership, Top Management Teams, and Managing Mergers and Acquisitions. He is also Faculty Director of the flagship Tuck Executive Program, as well as a consultant for companies around the world. Professor Finkelstein has conducted extensive research on strategic leadership, published numerous articles in the major journals in his field, and has written ten books.
Donald C. Hambrick is the Smeal Chaired Professor of Management, Smeal College of Business Administration, at The Pennsylvania State University. He holds a PhD degree from The Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses primarily on the study of top executives and their effects on strategy and performance. An active consultant and executive education instructor, he also served as president of the Academy of Management.
Albert A. Cannella Jr. is Koerner Chair in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Tulane University. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1991. He serves on the editorial review boards of Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, AdministrativeScience Quarterly, and Strategic Management Journal. His research interests focus on executives, entrepreneurship, and competitive dynamics.
Product Details
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 5, 2008)
Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, where he teaches courses on Leadership and Strategy. He teaches executive education at the Tuck School (where he serves as the Faculty Director of the flagship Tuck Executive Program), and also has experience working with executives at Northwestern, Wharton, Duke, Bocconi, London Business School, Australian Graduate School of Management, Melbourne Business School, Hanoi School of Business, the Chalmers School (Sweden) and the Helsinki School of Economics. He holds degrees from Concordia University and the London School of Economics, as well as a Ph.D. from Columbia University in strategic management.
Professor Finkelstein has published 15 books and over 70 articles, with several bestsellers, including the #1 bestseller in the U.S. and Japan, Why Smart Executives Fail (www.whysmartexecutivesfail.com). Based on a six-year study of 51 companies and 200 interviews of business leaders, the book identifies the fundamental reasons why major mistakes happen, points out the early warning signals that are critical for investors and managers alike, and offers ideas on how organizations can develop a capability of learning from corporate mistakes. On Fortune Magazine's list of Best Business Books, the Wall Street Journal called it "a marvel - a jargon-free business book based on serious research that offers genuine insights with clarity and sometimes even wit ... It should be required reading not just for executives but for investors as well." It has also been featured in such media as the Financial Times, Business Week, the London Times, the Toronto Globe and Mail, Fast Company, Across the Board, and Entrepreneurship, among others, and has been translated into 11 different languages. In Professor Finkelstein's follow-up book, Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it From Happening to You (Harvard Business Press) (www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/thinkagain), published in 2009, he turns his attention to such major strategic decisions as the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and numerous business cases to explain why decision-makers sometimes think they're right when they are really wrong. The book takes up recent research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and management to not only document why things go wrong, but also to offer a series of solutions that reduce our vulnerability to falling into the traps that lead to bad decisions.
Professor Finkelstein has had three books nominated for the Academy of Management's Terry Book Award, the most prestigious such honor in the field. His other awards include Finalist for the Academy of Management Executive Best Paper Award (2004), the McKinsey & Company Strategic Management Society Best Conference Paper Prize Honorable Mention (2002), the Best Paper Award from the Academy of Management Executive for his article "Leveraging Intellect" (1997), two Citations of Excellence from ANBAR, the world's leading guide to management journal literature (1997 & 1998), the Cenafoni Prize for research in Entrepreneurial Strategy (1991), and finalist for the A.T. Kearney award for the best research in strategic management (1988). He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management.
Professor Finkelstein is listed in the "World's Top 25 Leadership Gurus." He has participated on numerous CEO forums, been interviewed or had his work appear in numerous leading media outlets, and served as consultant and speaker for major companies around the world, including Aetna, American Express, Bank of Montreal, Barclays, Boeing, Cerberus, Chevron, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, GE, Glaxo, , ING, ITT, J&J, JP Morgan Chase, Mayo Clinic, Korn-Ferry, McGraw-Hill, McKinsey, Monsanto, Morgan Stanley, Novartis, PwC, Raytheon, Roche, Russell Reynolds, and UBS.
To stay up-to-date on Professor Finkelstein's latest insights on leadership and decision-making, follow him on Twitter @sydfinkelstein.
This review is from: Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards (Strategic Management Series) (Hardcover)
Having added Bert Cannella to the team, once again Syd Finkelstein and Don Hambrick have produced the definitive work on the upper echelons of organizations. A very comprehensive overview of the literature on executives, top management teams, and boards, bound together by an exhaustive sequence of propositions garnered from the current research, this book is essential reading for those studying strategic leadership, and will have a profound impact on future research. Definitely a "must have" book on my bookshelf.
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This review is from: Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards (Strategic Management Series) (Hardcover)
This is an excellent review of the state of academic research on CEOs, top management teams, and boards of directors, written by some of the top professors in the field. Gaps and weaknesses in current research are frequently noted, making this book a good source of research ideas for PhD students and professors interested in corporate governance.
The writing styles vary from chapter to chapter, probably depending on who was the lead author for that section; Finkelstein no doubt is behind the discussions of power, for example. However, all are well-organized with extensive citations, similar to a literature review.
I would not necessarily recommend this book for practitioners (managers and executives), or MBA and undergraduate students.
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