Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs (Hardcover)

by Rakesh Khurana (Author) "IN 1999, Chicago's Bank One Corporation was headed for trouble..." (more)
Key Phrases: one search consultant, social matching, external search process, Bank One, Wall Street, First Chicago (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Outstanding." -- Michael Skapinker, The Financial Times

"Wonderfully rational So good that it merits a full airing [Khurana's critique] will rattle corporate cages." -- William J. Holstein, The New York Times

As markets go, that for chief executives works in a spectacularly unsatisfactory way, [Khurana] argues. -- The Economist

Excellent, readable and highly original. . . . [S]hows how [many companies] . . . favor executive glitz and corporate pedigree over demonstrated competence. -- Jay Hancock, Baltimore Sun

Khurana patiently explains, the rise of the charismatic C.E.O. has been, on balance, a terrible trend for American business. -- Stephen Metcalf, New York Observer

Rakesh Khurana takes a big swing at today's cult of the corporate leader, aiming to demolish a few of the shibboleths that company boards hold dear. . . . All in all, this is a refreshing debunking of business mythology. -- Review

Review
The most important--and timely--management book of 2002. Rakesh Khurana pulls back the curtain on . . . the vogue for hiring celebrity outsiders over capable insiders. . . . A thousand hosannas.
(Fortune )

[This] new book . . . will surely intensify the already hot debate on corporate governance. . . . [It] seems wonderfully rational, not to mention impeccably well timed. . . . Recent events, of course, should make people care about the problems he spotlights. Some chief executives have either looted their companies or mismanaged them in ways that have wiped out billions of dollars of shareholder value.
(William J. Holstein The New York Times )

CEOs often write their own tickets when they ride to the rescue of a company in distress. Khurana details the ways that CEO accountability has diminished and compensation has skyrocketed (while workers' pay, in real dollars, has gone down).
(Adam Rogers Newsweek )

As Mr. Khurana patiently explains, the rise of the charismatic C.E.O. has been, on balance, a terrible trend for American business. . . . C.E.O.s have justified their ludicrous, pharaoh-like paydays with talk about supply and demand, meritocracy and shareholder value--but as it turns out, there's no steady correlation between any of these.
(Stephen Metcalf New York Observer )

Searching for a Corporate Savior pulls back the curtain on how the system of CEO selection actually works. . . . As a precondition to accepting the job, Khurana found, most candidates insist on taking both the chairman and C.E.O. titles as well as the right to stack the board with their cronies. . . . [M]any of those C.E.O.s have transferred ungodly sums of money from shareholders to their own pockets.
(Jerry Useem American Prospect )

Highly readable. . . . Khurana shows that the damage caused by celebrities in the executive suites does not affect merely employees and investors but society as a whole.
(Toronto Globe and Mail )

Even if a company is in dire straits, is an outsider likely to be the best person to rescue it? Mr. Khurana insists that is rarely the case. As markets go, that for chief executives works in a spectacularly unsatisfactory way, he argues. . . . The search process, with its emphasis on confidentiality, restricts the hunt for potential candidates and puts enormous power in the hands of the recruiting firm.
(The Economist )

A fascinating and grimly entertaining book.
(Gene Epstein Barron's )

In his excellent, readable and highly original Searching for a Corporate Savior , Khurana lays bare the CEO search process and shows how directors at company after company favor executive glitz and corporate pedigree over demonstrated competence--and then grossly overpay their recruits while demanding miraculous results. Not surprisingly, in trying to live up to expectations, the bosses often end up wrecking the company.
(Jay Hancock Baltimore Sun )

Rakesh Khurana takes a big swing at today's cult of the corporate leader, aiming to demolish a few of the shibboleths that company boards hold dear. . . . All in all, this is a refreshing debunking of business mythology.
(Simon Clarke Human Resources )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; 1 edition (August 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691074372
• ISBN-13: 978-0691074375
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #707,717 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with Knowledge!, October 11, 2002

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Charisma and reputation have replaced management experience and industry expertise in the corner office. Certainly that's not news to anyone who has read the business press at any time in the past decade, but the trend is certainly important enough to warrant the comprehensive examination provided by Rakesh Kurana. Starting with an analysis of the increasing power of activist institutional investors, Kurana traces the process through which boards of directors have forsaken mature managers for media darlings in their CEO searches. In light of the spate of embarrassing and enraging CEO scandals, we from getAbstract recommend this book to all readers.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark look at the Cult of CEO, January 19, 2005

By	David A. Spellman "Code Slingin' Cowboy" (Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs (Paperback)

A brutally honest look at what is wrong with how CEOs are chosen in America today. I read an advance copy of this book and could not believe it was allowed to go to press. Dr. Khurana certainly has put his professional aspirations on the line to be so bold, but this is the kind of book that makes a difference in the world.

This book presents what I considered some amazing and enlightening information not normally available to ordinary people. We can read about the stupefying emoluments, titanic disasters, and spectacular firings of CEOs in the popular press, but it is hard to find out the inner workings of how these people got into these positions of influence to begin with. Many of the academic treatises on management I have read seem like distant observations from an ivory tower. Refreshingly, parts of this book sounded to me like the information came from furtive phone calls late at night.

Of course, part of the problem is that the foxes are already in charge of the chicken coop. I, too, would recommend this book to members of corporate boards responsible for the performance of top executives. There are plenty of brilliant executives who should be promoted based upon sound character and true leadership ability. Everyone knows that in many cases this is not happening, but Dr. Khurana has identified the defective process that underlies the problem. It is up to boards of directors to learn about and correct their mistakes.

The final page of the book uses an analogy from the Wizard of Oz about drawing back the curtain to shed light on the inner workings of power, and Dr. Khurana has done a good job of this. His book is to CEO succession as Sinclair Lewis' "The Jungle" was to the meat packing industry--it will turn your stomach and make you cry out for change if you read it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, insightful, timely topic, September 16, 2002

By	Michael John Smith (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent timely book about the culture of corporate executives who have more influence on American life than we previously liked to acknowledge. With CEO's from Enron, Worldcom, GE, and Tyco in the news and affecting our 401k's they are imporant force in our economy that can't be ignored.

Mr. Khurana takes the reader through how these leaders are chosen, what makes them unique including his analysis of the charisma factor, and why everyone should be concerned with this process. He does this in a readable fashion that makes this one of the more enjoyable business books I've read in a couple of years.