How They Blew It: The CEOs and Entrepreneurs Behind Some of the World's Most Catastrophic Business Failures »

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver earned his nickname "The Naked Chef" from his philosophy that the best approach to cooking is to strip it down to the bare essentials, using simple ingredients and techniques. His back-to-basics approach -- combined with his winning kitchen charisma on television -- have made Oliver one hot culinary commodity.

How They Blew It tells the story of 16 business leaders who went from paramount success to abject failure, resulting in the collapse of some of the world's most famous and supposedly successful businesses.  Full of surprising details, and mind-blowing sums of money, it looks at the characteristics of these leaders and the fine line between hero and zero.

About the Authors

Introduction 1

1 Chosen? Bernie Ebbers Ebbers, Bernie 13

2 Deadly Intent Christopher Foster Foster, Christopher 24

3 Stitch Up Mikhail Khodorkovsky Khodorkovsky, Mikhail 34

4 Rock Star J?n ?sgeir J?hannesson J?hannesson, J?n ?sgeir 45

5 All That Glitters Reuben Singh Singh, Reuben 56

6 More Than He Could Chew Tim Power Power, Tim 66

7 King Kong Dick Fuld Fuld, Dick 77

8 The Art of Money Peter Klimt Klimt, Peter 88

9 One Step Too Far Adolf Merckle Merckle, Adolf 99

10 Exile Boris Berezovsky Berezovsky, Boris 109

11 Power Politics Zhou Zhengyi Zhou, Zhengyi 119

12 Paying the Penalty Mark Goldberg Goldberg, Mark 128

13 Friends in High Places Ken Lay Lay, Ken 139

14 How to Blow a Billion Kevin Leech Leech, Kevin 152

15 A Bridge Too Far James Cayne Cayne, James 165

16 Credit Crunched Robert Tchenguiz Tchenguiz, Robert 176

Conclusion Robert Tchenguiz Tchenguiz, Robert 189

Index Robert Tchenguiz Tchenguiz, Robert 206