Complete Leadership

One of the most high-profile coercive leaders of recent years was

Al Dunlap, who built up a reputation as a turnaround expert by

slashing costs and imposing his will at different industrial firms in

the US. When he came to electrical supplier Sunbeam, however, he

was taking over a firm whose performance was merely lacklustre,

but he proceeded to behave as though it was over-staffed and needed

excessive coercion. The results were disastrous: too many staff were

fired; motivation plummeted, supplies to retail outlets became

irregular and computer errors were frequent. The company hit a

financial crisis and the board fired Dunlap.

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How to draw up your leadership ...