THe GO BIG failures...new Undertaker Leaders.

When I wrote my book, Risktaker, Caretaker, Surgeon Undertaker- the four faces of strategic leadership, I had a difficult time finding examples of Undertakers.

In the past few weeks the number of Undertaker leaders has significantly increased. Some of these leaders, like Merrill, merged their "storied" company with Bank of America. Lehman Brothers disappeared and had to settle for a garage sale. AIG became a ward of the United States Government.

One of the underlying causes of all these failures, what the high risk, high roll, GO BIG mentality that permeated these companies. GO BIG never works. But unfortunately another result of this fiasco is that there are now BIGGER financial services and not smaller ones. It is interesting to note that the financial companies who have prospered during this crisis are the smaller, specialized, focused local and regional banks.

It should be clear that strategically focused organizations who resist the GO BIG, GO GLOBAL temptation and stick to what they know and can lead are the WINNERS.
Bill Rothschild, author of RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER, the four faces of strategic leadership and

THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS.