Minding the Corporate Checkbook: A Manager's Guide to Executing Successful Business Investments

Preface

I have followed a long, circuitous route to this book, but the value of the journey has far exceeded the sum of the steps. Many years ago, as a founder of a software company, I faced the same challenge of most managers: Strategies seem so wonderful in theory, but how do you execute them in real time to grow corporate value? Concepts that I learned in graduate school and from best-selling business books seemed to make good sense, but rarely, if ever, could I implement them at my company.

After successfully exiting the company and returning to academia, I had time to reevaluate my own experience as a manager. I realized the sway given to an idea or set of strategies because of its apparent success at another company or companies. All too ...