Bill Walters

Dennis Ellmaurer recently wrote an article that appeared in the May 14–27 edition of Biz Times entitled, “You Can’t Help But Ask: Are CEO’s idiots?” Talk about an attention grabber! Mr. Ellmaurer went on to cite several examples of once highly-successful companies that failed…companies like Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, and Midwest Express Airlines to name a few. The balance of his article stated several reasons why these companies failed including “Bad Strategy, Rotten Execution”, and “People (in wrong jobs).” However, the caption “The Reality Check” caught my eye and provided the spark to write this article. In this caption, Mr. Ellmaurer states, “my guess is the CEO’s of some of these failed companies would have been better served with a strong board of directors that knew when and how to challenge the strategic thinking of the CEO.”