A Self-Help Book for Aspiring CEOs

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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CEO training in a book? The Harvard Medical School Guide titled “CEO Psychology: Who Rises, Who Falls, and Why” is just that, according to Harvard Health Publications and RosettaBooks, which have released the new volume. Too bad more CEOs of large public companies have not read the book.

Or the book may not be what it is advertised as at all. If books helped make better CEOs, shareholders and stakeholders of thousands of corporations would be better off.

The publishers say that the book:

[I]ncludes leadership tips such as learning your personal profile, envisioning your career trajectory, and leading through engagement.

And it includes tips:

[T]o offer readers important ways to work with change, manage emotional needs in the workplace, and channel aggression.

The book authors have the right backgrounds, which should make the recommendations in the book a particularly important aid to chief executives.

Kenneth M. Settel, M.D., is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School where he teaches a course on Organizational Consultation to senior residents in Psychiatry. He is a principal in The Boswell Group, consulting to CEOs, their organizations and Boards of Directors, family businesses, and professional service organizations around issues of leadership, organizational development, and conflict resolution.

Boswell Group is a for-profit operation, and Settel is one of its consultants. For those who need his help, Settel even provides his e-mail address. The doctor can be reached at [email protected]. With his direct help, CEOs may not have to read the book at all.

The other author is:

Joseph Cardillo is a top-selling author in the fields of health, mind-body-spirit, and psychology. His books, including Can I Have Your Attention? How to Think Fast, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Concentration, have inspired people of all ages worldwide.

Cardillo’s work has appeared in the New York Post, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Family Circle, FIRST for Women, Curve, American Fitness Magazine and GoodHouseKeeping.com. How can anyone who has contributed to any of those media be anything other than a well-regarded expert? Cardillo can be reached through his own website. And, of course, he is on Twitter, where he has a sum total of 101 followers, which is enough to take anyone’s breath away.

The new book is part of an effort by the Harvard Medical School, which many experts believe is the premier medical school in the world. That, of course, improves the likelihood that the new book is really very useful.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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