CHIEF EXECUTIVES are not, it goes without saying, the world’s most natural writers. They do not rise to the top without laserlike ambition, a trait that rarely leads to literary reflection. To achieve success, they have to murder their straight-talking selves and master corporate twaddle instead. They need neither fame nor fortune—the main reasons writers go through the agonies that they do. And when they do write, as a business publisher admits, you often “weep for the trees”. Think only of Jack Welch’s paean to great (ie, his own) leadership called “Winning”. Its first pearl of wisdom is: “Winning in business is great, because when companies win, people thrive and grow.”
