CHAPTER 1

PHOENIX OR DODO?

Sometimes you have to burn yourself to the ground before you can rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

—JENS LEKMAN, Swedish musician and songwriter1

In 2018, Sandra Johnstone was back in town after 20 years for her business school alumni reunion. She had recently accepted an offer from a private wealth management bank to become its CEO, which would require her to move to Europe from Canada, where she had lived and worked for a decade. As the night moved along, Sandra was gripped with nostalgia and delighted to reengage with fellow MBAs and old friends. At the end of the dinner, she found herself in deep conversation with her former classmate Michael, now the CEO of his family’s consumer electronics manufacturing business. ...

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