Mittelstaedt is Dean and Professor of the W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, and former Vice Dean and Director of Aresty Institute of Executive Education, at the Wharton School. He has consulted with organizations ranging from IBM to Weirton Steel, Pfizer to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and is a member of the board of directors of three corporations in electronics and healthcare services businesses.
Mittelstaedt wrote this book to help decision-makers understand how and why business is like an engine, requiring energy to get a flywheel rotating at the correct speed and in the proper direction to produce whatever the desirable results may be. In this book Mittelstaedt explains how to achieve each of these important objectives:
Mittelstaedt cites and then discusses a number of “mistake chains” which include the Eastern Airlines flight 401 crash, schoolchildren becoming sick after drinking Coke in western Belgium, the financial losses resulting from American Express’ Optima card, the crash of Eastern Airlines 90, the failure of Webvan, Intel’s flawed chip, Xerox’s failure to commercialize PARC’s technologies, and various problems resulting from the confluence of Motorola’s strategic and execution mistakes. Throughout the book’s narrative, each is presented within a real-world context. Readers will especially appreciate the provision of various quotations, checklists, caveats, and reiterations of key. Ultimately, this book must be judged on the quality of thinking and writing, organization and presentation of material, substance of content and potential value to its readers.
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