MEDIA RESOURCES

CONTACT: communications@mail.cox.smu.edu

DALLAS, Texas (SMU) - The spotlight continues to shine on CEOs and their leadership capacity --- and failings. John Slocum and Albert Casey of the Management and Organizations department at SMU Cox School of Business, along with Cass Ragan of Cass Ragan & Associates, examine the leadership behaviors of 23 former CEOs to analyze common reasons for failure. "On Death and Dying: The Corporate Leadership Capacity of CEOs," highlights the leadership issues facing CEOs who are "dying" or who are "dead," looking at former CEOs of such corporations as British Petroleum, Compaq, Mattel, Sunbeam, and Xerox.

Using behaviors such as poor communication skills, strategic blunders, and illegal or improper behavior, the researchers narrow the field to three common self-sabotaging habits of failed CEOs. The research found that failing CEOs shared the common behaviors of 1) being a lifer, where the CEOs had been members of their organizations for some time and were unable to address poorly performing managers, 2) lacking strategic focus and execution, and 3) avoiding the financial realities of their firm. The study then compares these similarities to stages a person with terminal illness may undergo - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance - with the stages of a failed leadership.

"On Death and Dying: The Corporate Leadership Capacity of CEOs" will appear in Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 30, number 3.

Professor John Slocum, chair of the Cox School's Management and Organization department, can be reached at (214) 768-3157 or jslocum@mail.cox.smu.edu. Dr. Albert Casey, executive-in-residence, can be reached at (214)-768- 2236 or acasey@mail.cox.smu.edu.