CEO-Speak: The Language of Corporate Leadership

In a post-Enron world, corporate accountability and ethical behaviour have become increasingly important. Joel Amernic and Russell Craig consider the implications of the corporate language of leadership. "CEO-Speak" explores the metaphors and persuasive strategies used by leaders at Enron, Microsoft, AOL-TimeWarner, General Electric, IBM, Nortel, Canadian National Railways, Andersen, Disney, and Alcan-Pechiney-Alusuisse. Amernic and Craig show that CEOs are frequently presented as heroes engaged in "the war of business" who can effect astonishing miracles of financial performance and reinvention. Contesting the notion that accounting is objective, "CEO-Speak" serves as an introduction to the controversies and ambiguities in corporate accountability and provides rich examples of the excesses of corporate communication.