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Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters ReviewAs I began to read this book, I was reminded of Jack Dempsey's observation that "champions get up when they can't." All of us have encountered professional setbacks of one kind or another and some of them are especially difficult to overcome. Most of the examples which Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward cite in this book involve CEOs who either "fired back"and eventually prevailed after a career setback (e.g. Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Bernie Marcus, Jimmy Carter, and George Foreman) or never fully recovered from them (e.g. Jill Barad, John Scully, Leona Helmsley, Jacques Nasser, and Linda Warnaco). The former demonstrate the importance of "seven lessons to turn tragedy into triumph" which Sonnenfeld and Ward recommend; the latter demonstrate the probable consequences of failing to understand and then apply those lessons on which a five-step strategy - "for rescuing and restoring a career and reputation after a devastating professional setback" -- is based.
It would be a disservice to Sonnenfeld and Ward as well as to those who read this brief commentary if I were to list the "lessons" and "steps" which are best revealed within the narrative of this remarkably thoughtful, eloquent, and practical book. Each is anchored in a real-world context. Each is relevant to anyone now embarked upon or preparing for a professional career. I mention this last point because some who consider purchasing this book may incorrectly assume that its material will be of greatest value only to senior-level executives. On the contrary, all of Sonnenfeld and Ward's observations and recommendations can be of substantial benefit to anyone who wishes to (a) avoid "a devastating professional setback" or (b) recover from one.
In essence, this book provides Sonnenfeld and Ward's response to this question: "How can I overcome a professional setback?" To their credit, at no time do they minimize or trivialize the impact of a professional setback. (Presumably each has experienced a few of his own.) They fully appreciate the difficulty of overcoming the debilitating psychological stress of failure, the challenges of failure to one's reputation (both personal and professional), social biases about failure, and other challenges which may be unique to one's company, its culture, and its industry. If not "tragic" or "devastating," a setback almost always lowers one's self-esteem, is embarrassing, and has adverse financial consequences. More often than not, there is collateral damage to one's family members and/or to one's close colleagues at work so guilt also comes into play.
Recall the Dempsey quotation provided earlier. Presumably Sonnenfeld and Ward agree with Dempsey on the importance of courage and also with me that it is much easier to summon the courage to "get up" when you are convinced that the situation is not hopeless, and, that you can indeed recover if you understand what has happened, why it has happened, and how you can - and should -- respond to it. Of course, it is preferable to avoid a setback in the first place. ("If `ifs' and `buts' were fruits and nuts....") Most of us are not so fortunate and I, for one, have learned the most important lessons from failures (mine and others') rather than from successes. Whether or not a given failure is our "fault," it is certainly our responsibility to take full advantage of the learning opportunity it offers, and then to make positive and productive use of whatever truth has been revealed.
It is interesting to examine the lives of "great leaders [who] rebound after career disasters" but, in my opinion, it is imperative to examine with rigor and candor one's own values, attitudes, and behavior - especially when struggling to understand and then recover from a professional setback which is invariably a personal setback, also. As Sonnenfeld and Ward make crystal clear, this journey of personal discovery is by no means easy. Nonetheless, it is one which must be initiated with commitment and then sustained by persistence throughout one's life. If and when setbacks occur - and they always do - the practical advice which Sonnenfeld and Ward offer in this book will enable those who absorb and digest it to understand and (yes) accept what has happened, understand why it has happened, and then leverage that wisdom effectively and productively, not only in their careers but in their personal lives.
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