From Predators to Icons: Exposing the Myth of the Business Hero

by Michel Villette, George Holoch (Translator), Michel Villette

In the popular imagination, the business media, and the schools of business and management that train new generations of entrepreneurs and executives, achieving extraordinary success in business is attributed to far-sighted individuals who have taken bold risks, provided innovative leadership, and introduced new products, services, or ideas superior to those of the competition. Amid the growing skepticism about the means by which vast amounts of wealth are accumulated and its consequences, however, this belief is long overdue for reevaluation. In From Predators to Icons, Michel Villette, a sociologist, and Catherine Vuillermot, a business historian, examine the careers of thirty-two of today's wealthiest global executives―including Warren Buffett, Ingvar Kamprad, Bernard Arnault, Jim Clark, and Richard Branson―in order to challenge the conventional explanations for their extreme success and come to a better understanding of modern business practices.

In contrast to the familiar image of the entrepreneur as a visionary with a plan, Villette and Vuillermot instead discover a far less dramatic process of improvised adaptations gradually assembled into a coherent course of conduct. And rather than being risk-takers, those who are most successful in business are risk-minimizers. Huge gains, these case studies reveal, are most reliably obtained in circumstances where the entrepreneur has established careful provisions for risk reduction. As for the view that innovation makes success possible, the authors find that because innovation is an expensive process that takes a long time to produce profits, innovators first of all require capital; success makes innovation possible. The necessary resources, they show, are most often derived from what they provocatively term "predation": ruthlessly taking advantage of imperfections, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities within the market or among competitors. Finally, From Predator to Icon considers the "practical ethics" implemented during the phase in which capital is most rapidly accumulated, as well as the social consequences of these activities. Drawing on interviews with some of their subjects and, crucially, close readings of the authorized biographies and other hagiographic accounts of these figures, which eliminates the bias of malicious interpretations, Villette and Vuillermot provide revelatory insights about the creation and maintenance of business wealth that will be profitably read by both the captains and the critics of contemporary capitalism.

Genres: Business

272 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Tarik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be rated much higher. The author has an incisive intellect and sugarcoats nothing. I always know a nonfiction book is good when I can see examples that prove the theories everywhere.

This book wasn’t written as a criticism of business although it seemed that way in the beginning. He just painted a picture that removed the rose colored glasses that biographies are often viewed through.

A few themes:

Entrepreneurs are not risk takers. The most successful ones make windfalls from legal maneuvering or low risk deals where they have special insight.

Much of the wealth of the richest businessmen is a acquired through a few key deals. Think Zuckerberg and the fight for Facebook. Or Buffett acquiring Geico. He mostly uses examples from France. Fewer modern examples but it applies.

Many attribute their success to innovation, but often the wealth necessary to develop their innovations was acquired earlier through other means.

I enjoy books that shatter myths or conventions.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think about this book all the time. It has the most immediate real world application of any book I’ve ever read. It helps to better understand your boss, elected leaders, and others in power. While the examples are a little dated and often specific to France, the archetypes apply very well.

I was particularly taken with the idea of the chaos leader that purposely leaves things vague so they can swoop in as the hero to either take credit for the accomplishment or take their underling to task for not doing it the “right way”.

The book is also an excellent take down of the idea that an entrepreneur is a risk taker. They show how time and again business leaders gain wealth by risk reduction (offloading it into others) and a predatory ability to take advantage of the situation they find themselves in.

A fascinating read.

[Nguyễn]

Risk reduction exposed at its best