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  Guide opening:

You have built your business, seen it through its growing pains, established it as a leader in its sector. Unfortunately, you have been so busy building the company you haven't given much thought to who is going to run it after you're gone. The stockholders are well aware of your importance to the firm, but they are worried: What if you get hit by a truck or, as is the case with Avery Bullard in Executive Suite, drop dead on the sidewalk from a heart attack at age 53? The company that was built as a monument to your success now faces chaos. The board's directors are at each other's throats; your key managers are trying to bail out; and your stockholders are dumping your stock as fast as they can. This was not the legacy you wanted to leave and it's certainly not the legacy your peers, subordinates and shareholders wanted to inherit.

This Study Guide looks closely at Executive Suite, the star-studded 1954 film that was nominated for four Academy Awards. The movie centers on a succession crisis and the jockeying that takes place as vice-presidents battle to succeed their struck-dead-in-his-prime boss. The film's lessons deal with politics, ethics, leadership styles, corporate vision and team building.

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  An excerpt from the plot summary:

At the Walling home, Mary awakes in the middle of the night to find her husband working at his drawing board. They talk. Walling explains that Grimm will be elected the company's new president. He and Alderson have talked it through. They are sure they can get the votes and that Grimm will accept. Mary asks if the choice of company president should be made by the stockholders. "The stockholders made their decision when they elected the board of directors," Walling explains. On the board each director has only one vote. There being seven directors, four will be needed to elect Grimm. Walling counts on Grimm's vote, Alderson's, his own and Dudley's. They assume Caswell and Shaw will vote for Shaw. No one knows how Julia Tredway will vote, but it won't make any difference if the other four back Grimm. Tredway has never attended a board meeting before, having always allowed Bullard to vote her proxy. Mary suggests that Walling might want to consider leaving Tredway, go off on his own, do things the way he wants to. But Walling says he has to be sure it can't be done at Tredway. She asks him what makes him think it could be done under Grimm, to whom Walling has never been close, when it couldn't be done under Bullard? Walling tells her Alderson wanted him to go for the presidency, but he turned it down. He tells Mary that he doesn't want to "die young at the top of the tower worrying about bond issues and stockholder's meetings . . .that's not what I came here for…I'm a designer not a politician…I think." She agrees with him.

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  Summary of the commentary:

The commentary focuses on the differences between Shaw's view of corporate management and Walling's. Shaw's case is fleshed out and given a fairer shake than it gets in the movie. Walling's, conversely, is critiqued and ultimately made stronger. Issues of corporate succession are examined in detail. The commentary also discusses the importance of teaming building and how to get senior executives out of their functional ghettos. It also offers tips on how to nurture your lieutenants rather than pitting them against one another. Finally, the Guide discusses how how important it is to pay attention to the factory floor and their opinions of the products being produced.

The commentary is supplemented by BREAKOUT BOXES dealing with these topics:

	The Caswell Subplot: How Shortselling Works and Why It Gets Bad Press
	Top 7 Lessons in Team Management and Succession
	Best Business Movie of All Time

THE GUIDE also includes an essay that looks at business as depicted in the movies. For an introductory section on how to use the Management Goes to the Movies™ program, click through to Using The MGTTM Training Program.

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