Steve Miller's book The Turnaround Kid: What I Learned Rescuing America's Most Troubled Companies has generated considerable controversy. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) discusses the brouhaha in some detail. I don't know enough about the situation at Delphi to have an opinion, so I'm reviewing this as a book, controversy aside.

Miller has built his reputation as a "firefighter" brought in to fix serious problems at deeply troubled companies. He got his start as the CFO at Chrysler where he signed ten thousand documents in one sitting for the loan guarantees that brought the company back from the brink. His career later took him to Olympia & York Developments Ltd., Bethlehem Steel, Morrison-Knudson, Federal-Mogul, Waste Management, and Delphi, where he currently serves as chairman.

His accounts of these struggles are interesting, but the most compelling reading comes when Miller talks about the more prominent people his career has brought him into contact with. This description of Carl Icahn alone is worth the price of admission:

Icahn was uniquely creative in his demands. He was impatient with the board's decision and would bully us to do things his way ... In face to face meetings he gave everyone whiplash. One moment he'd bellow, "That's the stupidest goddamn thing I ever heard heard," and the next he'd put his arm around you. He's effective, I think, because people become so traumatized that they wind up suffering from Stockholm syndrome and will do anything to please him.

His description of Lee Iacocca's decline caused by ego also serves as an interesting cautionary tale.

If you enjoy reading about business history, you'll like this book. And here's the best part: it's a book about management that's generally devoid of cliches and trite platitudes.

Book review: The Turnaround Kid originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Halliburton Co.'s (NYSE:HAL) decision to move corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai has outraged Congressional Democrats who are planning to hold hearings.

A Halliburton spokeswoman told The New York Times that the company expects to get no tax benefits from the move and will continue to be incorporated in Delaware. That explanation won't satisfy the company's many critics, who view it as a symbol of everything that's wrong about the Iraq war and the Bush administration. That's understandable considering that Halliburton's performance in Iraq has been roundly criticized and that Vice President Dick Cheney used to be its CEO.

Steve Miller's classic anthem "Go on take the money and run" came to mind after the story broke. I referenced it in my earlier post as did Sheldon Liber in his post. A reader named Steve responded with a clever parody. It's reprinted below with his permission:

This heres a story about Haly-B and K B Root
Two war profiteers with nothin better to do
Just sit around with the VP, get high, and count the loot
And here is what happened when they decided to cut loose

They headed on over to, old Babylon
Thats where they sprouted a huge hard on
KBR burglarized soldiers and sodomized taxpayers
Haly-B took the money and run

Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run

Average Joe is an apathetic citizen
You know he's clueless just exactly what the facts is
He's pretty much gonna let those two escape justice
He gets his info from fox news and Limbaugh faxes

KBR, whoa, whoa, he slipped away
Haly-B caught up to him the very next day
They got the money, hey
You know they got away
They headed on over to Dubai and theyre still laughing today
Singin go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run

Halliburton's move to Dubai spurs great song parody originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.