Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and accurate - I too lived it!
Review: Through in-depth interviews with insiders, John Byrne has accurately depicted the pressure-cooker environment inside a company in the midst of a melt-down. He recreates the bizarre chain of events that began with Al's highly publicized appointment as CEO and ended with his ignominious dismissal. By juxtaposing the external PR spin with the internal chaos, he illustrates the two faces of Al: the charming, ebullient darling of Wall Street and the media, and the ranting, irrational CEO who seemed to enjoy firing people.The book also depicts how Wall Street analysts, otherwise savvy reporters, individual investors, and even Sunbeam's own Board of Directors were duped into believing Al's fairy tales far longer than I would have imagined possible. They seemed to want to continue to believe, even in the face of growing evidence of his duplicity. The author captures all these events and offers comments and perspective from many of the individuals involved. Just like one of Aesop's fables, this story highlights the ethical dillemas faced in the business world; the bad choices of an arrogant, unfeeling egomaniac, and the moral of the story: you'll eventually pay the price for profit at any price.
Rating: 
Summary: Lesson In Greed
Review: When it comes to Wall Street, sometimes it is not reason and logic that counts. Packaging counts much more. It was the case with Sunbeam. Is it the case for Internet stocks as well? While there has been some correction in Internet stocks, they are still highly priced compared to brick-and-mortar companies. Packaging still counts. I found the book engaging. While it cannot be compared to the classic "Barbarians At The Gate", it was nevertheless one of the better books I have read. Al Dunlap had been very successful as a turnaround executive. He has successfully turned over a number of firms including Scott Paper. His brand of turnover is slash and burn. He believes in cutting cost, sometimes to the extreme. Through his actions, he earned nicknames like "Chainsaw Al", "Rambo in Stripes", etc. The book mentioned several turnarounds that he had made in his career prior to joining Sunbeam. At Sunbeam, Dunlap continued his brand of turnover. However, perhaps due to pressure from Wall Street and his own ego, his cutting of costs became indiscriminate. He lost reason in cutting cost. Everything became short term. The idea was to window dress the accounts for Wall Street's reward. When the truth was finally known, Sunbeam's stock crashed. The book explored the evils of greed and ego. When men are consumed by greed and their own ego, they lose their sense of reason. It was that way with Sunbeam's executives. It was that way with Wall Street and its analysts. It is a humbling experience to realise that it takes so little for one to cross the line from hero to zero.
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