The five temptations of a CEO a leadership fable

OF A

ALEADERSHIP FABLE

PATRICK LENCIONI


$20.00

U.S.

I

CEO

he Five lemptations of a

As

he stared out the picture

Andrew O'Brien wondered how

office,

come

it

his

had

to this.

Tomorrow would he
promotion

0/ his
first

window from

to

hoard meeting

the

one-year anniversary

CEO.

It

would also be

the

which he would be

in

accountable for the results of an entire fiscal

year Those
tomed

results, as

he had grown accus"

to saying,

Andrew

were "unspectacular at

best.

could not deny that he was at a low

CEO,

point in his brief tenure as

a point he

never expected to reach so soon.

And then

Tn

things got worse.

stunning

this

Lencioni

Patrick

wake-up

business

call to all

fiction

delivers

of us

who

a

powerful

dare to lead.

Young, ambitious, and overwhelmed,

O'Brien personifies
he wanders
bullet

that

in

will

a part of

debut,

Andrew

every leader as

search of the elusive silver
propel him to success.

happens upon an unlikely guide
the seemingly infinite

list

who

He

distills

of leadership perils

into the five temptations of a

CEO.

In

intense and often combative exchange, the

debate fundamental issues faced by

ers—issues involving personal

all

lead-

integrit)'

(continued on back flap)

an

two

and




^

Advance praise

for

The Five Temptations of a

"The most fascinating book

I

CEO

have ever read about man-

agement. Pat Lencioni thrusts into the psyche of a

CEO

in

an extremely shrewd manner and reveals the vulnerabilities
there.

could not help but

I

confronted while reading

feel that

I

was the one being

it."

—Tadao Kobayashi, Executive Vice

President,

Amer-

Honda Motor Company

ican

"Lencioni goes right to the core of what

is at

once simple and

profoundly hard to do as a leader: to take actions that are
conscious and honest, always.
authentic

tempted

—

at precisely

those

He

moments when we

to act out of ego, vanity, or fear.

good job, I'm aware of following the

—

Dr.

human

It

are

When am
I

to

be

most

doing a

principles he suggests."

Diane Flannery, CEO, Juma Ventures

"Leadership
results.

challenges us

is

about motivating others to achieve superior

demands

that individuals rise

above the inherent

temptations so clearly articulated in this book.

Insightful

and

entertaining. The Five Temptations of a

CFO

provides a practical construct that will help every general

manager become more

—Thomas
Bain

J.

effective."

Tierney, Worldwide Managing Partner,

& Company


"I

normally cringe every time someone

insists

read yet

1

another book on leadership or corporate philosophy, but

must admit
quickly

—

warmed up

1

to

The Five Temptations oj a

CEO

plain English, simple truths, eminently digestible."

—Graham Spanier,

President,

Penn

State University

"A fast-reading page-turner that puts things in
perspective

—

it

makes you

as complicated as

—

I

you

their

realize that corporate

proper

life is

not

think."

Sal Schiliro, Publisher, Street

''The Five Temptations of

a

CEO

& Smith's Sports Group

tells it like it really is at

the top. In vivid prose storytelling, Lencioni depicts the

challenge and inspiration of overcoming the five deceptively

simple barriers to successful leadership."

—John

Alexander, President, Center

for

Creative

Leadership

"Pat Lencioni has written a compelling
ble.

CEO

The Five Temptations of a

and

delightful para-

blends Pats

brilliant

storytelling ability with his extensive practical experience.
It

gives us a \dbrant illustration of the success factors for

leadership in business

.

.

.

and

in

life.

Anyone,

CEO

or oth-

erwise, can benefit from this book."

—Terry Pearce,
President,

Schwab

&

author. Leading Out Loud; Senior Vice

Executive

Communication,

Co.; Lecturer,

Charles

Haas School of Business,

University of California, Berkeley


"Few business books

a story that

tell

you can

does that and more. The Five Temptations of a

key

to a

form.

A

CEO;

a

CEO's

real

ability to

^Alan

for

anyone

CEO holds

the

a company's ability to per-

joy to read for anyone

must read

—

leam and

relate to. Pat's

who wants

who wants

become

to

a

to stay one."

Anderson, President and CEO, Quintus Cor-

poration

''The Five Temptations

in

its

oja

powerful in

simplicity,

humanity. Pat Lencioni

who knows from
thrive in

CEO is a powerful book.

honesty, powerful in

and engaging

a wise

is

real close

one of the

its

Powerful

up what

it

loneliest places

storyteller

takes to survive

on

its

the planet

and

—

the

boss's office!"

—Jim Kouzes, coauthor, The Leadership Challenge and
Chairman,

Credibility;

Tom

Peters Group/Learning

Systems

"Outstanding!

one

is

I've

great! All

read

many management books and

managers can leam from

honest, and simple to understand book.

you want
I've

made

this quick-reading,
It is

a

must read

improve your executive management

to

this

if

skills.

a wallet-sized reference card of the five tempta-

tions so that

I

don't stray"

—Michael
Officer,

Rowe, President and Chief Operating

New Jersey

Nets


The Five Temptations gets to a level of organizational truth in
a

compelling way.

will

It

change the way we look

behavior and priorities without feeling guilty The
night

commute home

—Richard
"Take

it

from

tedium
ers

best-selling

author,

Never

with Reality

confirmed 'business book basher': The Five

a

Temptations of a
jargon,

Memo

late-

never be the same. ..."

Moran,

A.

Confuse a

will

our

at

CFO

is

not singing the same old song.

No

no pseudo-science, no strained sound-bites, no

—just

depend

a percipient parable for those

whom

oth-

for leadership."

—Mitch

Daniels, Senior Vice President, Corporate

Strategy

and

Policy, Eli Lilly

and Company

"Lencioni understands the subde but
that every

on

CEO

must ultimately

critical

challenges

face."

—Mark Hoffman, President and CEO,
CommerceOne
"Some
els

—

practical

in

and profound choices

any organization! The

fable

for leaders at all lev-

is

a great

way

to get

hooked."

—Tom Kurtz,

architect, coach, navigator, facilitator for

organization breakthrough, Procter and

Gamble


"I

couldn't stop thinking about the people

how
this

this

on

book

my

1

work with and

applies to them. I'm going to keep a copy of

desk and use

it

—Leilani Gayles, Vice

as a tool for coaching."

President of

Human Resources,

@ Home Network
"Good CEOs

are going to love this book.

disturbed by

it

Bad CEOs

because they're going to realize that

problems in the organization

start

be

will
all

the

with them."

—Mark Talucci, President and CEO, The Sak
"Most of us have succumbed
tations'
is

described in this

book

to

one or more of the 'temp-

—but not

worthy of the attention of any

CEO

for long. This

or

manager

book

at

any

level."

—Timothy E

Finley,

Chairman and CEO, Jos. A. Bank

Clothiers

"A good story that conveys wisdom

for all

human

institu-

tions, certainly including not-for-profits."

—Brian O'Connell, Founding

President, Independent

Sector

"Using a 'novel' format, Lencioni guides not only CEOs, but
also

and

all

managers, to a more productive way of thinking

acting!"

—David Chilton,

author. The Wealthy Barber

.

.

.


CEO really got me thinking. It
made me reexamine my own performance and gave me
some insights on how could do my job better."
''The Five Temptations oj

a

I

—-Jerome L. Dodson, President, The Parnassus Fund
"Lencioni has found a great
issues

we

way

face as leaders. ...

—John

to

communicate about

A quick,

easy,

the

enjoyable read!"

S toner, President and General Manager, True

Temper Hardware

"Well, well, well.

make

I

am

the sixth temptation?

and could not put

my own initiatives,

evant.

CEOs

I

I

down.

it

bringing clarity to the
ing

tempted

CEO

to read

it

again!

actually read

A

it

Would

on vacation

very clever approach to

mystique and process. In lead-

these concepts were abundantly rel-

look forward to providing a copy of this to

in our portfolio."

—Rick Patch,

that

Partner, Sequel Venture Partners

all

the


THE

FIVE

Temptations
OF A

CEO

THE

FIVE

Temptations
OF A

CEO

A LEADERSHIP FABLE

PATRICK LENCION

>»

JOSSEY-BASS
A Wiley Company
San Francisco


Copyright

©

1998 by Jossey-Bass

Inc., Publishers,

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in the

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lencioni, Patrick M.,

The

five

Lencioni.

temptations of a

—

p.

1965a leadership fable

/

Patrick M.

1st ed.

cm.

ISBN 0-7879-4433-5
I.

CEO:

(acid-free paper)

Title.

PS3562.E479 F5 1998

813\54—ddc21

98-9097

FIRST EDITION

HB

Printing

10 9 8 7 6 5


Contents

Introduction

vii

The Fable

3

The Model:

A Summary

Self- Assessment

Acknowledgments

About the Author

123

131

133

of

Why Executives

Fail

111



INTRODUCTION

eing the chief executive of an organization

B

the

most

career.

Some CEOs,
with

difficult challenges a

But

it is

is

one of

person can face in a

not a complicated one.

especially the struggling ones,

this statement. They'll tell

you

might disagree

their jobs are riddled

with complexities and subtleties that make success impossible to predict. If their organizations

a tired

list

fail,

they

may point

to

of causes like strategic errors, marketing inade-

quacies, competitive threats,

these are only

symptoms

and technology

of their troubles.

Vll

failures.

But


The Five Temptations of a

who

All chief executives

time or another

cumb

If

to

—make

CEO

—and most

fail

them do

of

at

one

same basic mistakes; they suc-

the

one (or more!) of the Five Temptations of a CEO.

this is true, if a

behaviors, then

why

CEO's success hinges on just
don't

more

of

them succeed?

a

few

Why do

they keep looking at the same financial statements, prod-

and marketing reports

uct development schedules,

search of a silver bullet?

in

think Lucille Ball answers this

I

question best.

In an old episode of the

home

to find

fours.

When he

Love Lucy show, Ricky comes

I

Lucy crawling around the

living

room on

asks her what she's doing she explains that

she has lost her earrings. "You lost your earrings in the
ing room?" Ricky asks. Lucy replies, "No,

bedroom

For

—but

the light

many CEOs

is

the light

strategic planning,
ful

all

and

so

is

much

1

lost

them

liv-

in the

better out here."

best in places like marketing,

finance, safe havens

from the pain-

darkness of behavioral self-examination. Unfortunately,

they find

little

opportunity for meaningful improvement in

these areas.

Even

relatively progressive

executives often stay in the

comfort of their "living rooms," sampling management fads

and leadership trends

in search of relatively painless

Vlll

reme-


The Five Temptations of a

dies for their

work

While some of those remedies appear

for a while, they eventually leave executives

to the
first

ills.

same

exposed

place, the ones explored in this book.

enough

to

that

is

understand

do anything about

tract

to

basic issues that caused their problems in the

The tragedy here

to

CEO

most executives

all this

—

^but

many

of

are intuitive

them

struggle

Instead, they unconsciously dis-

it.

themselves and others from their personal leadership

issues

by getting overly involved

in the details of their busi-

nesses, often to the point of creating complexity

where

it

shouldn't exist.

Essentially,

what they

their organizations in
to face

are

doing

is

putting the success of

jeopardy because they are unwilling

—and overcome—

the Five Temptations of a

IX

CEO.



To

my mother and father, my

wife Laura,

and our newborn sons Matthew and Connor



»

rHE

FIVE

Temptations
OF A

CEO