Big Bad Business. "Bad Company: The Cult of the CEO" by Gideon Haigh and "The Big End of Town: Big Business and Corporate Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia" by Grant Fleming, David Merrett and Simon Ville. [review]

Abstract

As Australians, we seem to be much more comfortable acknowledging the role of an orchestra’s conductor or a film’s producer or a sporting team’s captain than we are at accepting the pivotal role of a brilliant CEO. It is as though we fear that when we advocate ‘leadership’ we are somehow admitting to neo-fascist tendencies. It is perhaps best to remember that the despotic megalomaniac is only one model of leadership on offer. These two books should be read together, and are in fact perfect foils for each other. "The Big End of Town" is scholarly and perhaps too willing to give Big Business the benefit of the doubt; "Bad Company" is a rollicking good read, as combative and provocative as any reader could reasonably demand.