Business success is a fluke
Why case studies don’t work
Why case studies don’t work
The football coach José Mourinho was called «Great» in 2012. But since 2013, his career can hardly be called rewarding. Chelsea, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur, one after another, have fired him because of the poor results. And the coach is not an athlete whose qualification fades away due to age. The coach’s primary working tool is the brain; experience is his asset.
These kinds of stories happen in business as well. Stephen Elop was in good standing with Microsoft. It was his idea to create cloud-based versions of the company’s programs. Probably, that was why he was sent to run Finnish Nokia when Microsoft acquired it. I’m sure you know how it ended. I’d venture to guess that the phone in your pocket has a different company name on the body. Was Elop a bad manager? It is hardly so, and rather, he couldn’t fit in this context. When Carly Fiorina took over Hewlett-Packard, she already had an impressive career under her belt. However, there are many…