Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld

Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld: Books & Videos

Is it possible to rescue your career and restore your reputation after a major professional setback? In an age rife with press accounts of disgraced CEO’s, politicians, and celebrities-as well as courageous but beleaguered whistle-blowers and victims of rivalries or envious colleagues and bosses-this question has grown more important than ever.

In Firing Back, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward answer the question with a resounding “Yes”. They go on to lay out a practical and important five-step process for actually recovering from setbacks. Following these steps will help guise you through difficult circumstances, rebuild your reputation, and chart a new future. The authors also explore strategies for surmounting common barriers to career recovery, including tricky corporate cultures ad psychological stresses.

Anchored in decades of research and scholarly studies across multiple fields, this book is packed with engrossing stories and firsthand accounts from humbled but restored CEOs and executives from firms as diverse as General Electric, the Home Depot, Morgan Stanley, Apple, Staples, and Hewlett-Packard.

Firing Back offers a clear plan for anyone who needs to recover from a career setback and reclaim lost prestige and reputation-whether the setback stemmed from his own actions or forces outside her control.

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The Hero's Farewell
What Happens When CEOs Retire

Little attention has been paid by the public to the crucial issue of corporate succession as the spotlight turns to a company's new chief executive while a departing one shuffles off. Sonnenfeld, an associate professor at the Harvard Business School, here outlines a typology of corporate succession that focuses on the departure styles of four different kinds of corporate leaders. He calls them: "Monarchs," who do not leave voluntarily; "Generals," who leave reluctantly and plot to return; "Ambassadors," who leave gracefuly and retain close ties to their old firms; and "Governors," who leave willingly to pursue new challenges. He probes the profound effects that each departure style has on the retiring CEO and the firm.

Sonnenfeld illustrates his typology by describing the departures of some of America's greatest corporate leaders, including Edwin Land of Polaroid (a Monarch), William Paley of CBS (a General), Thomas Watson of IBM (an Ambassador), and Reginald Jones of GE (a Governor). The book is a useful analysis that illuminates a long-neglected area of management theory.

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