kevin patrick leech

IF YOU SUCCEED IN DESTROYING THE WORLD, WHO WILL BE YOUR CUSTOMERS?

In the James Bond movies, the villains are often successful entrepreneurs who have built their own world-beating corporations with dominant market positions. Yet instead of continuing their firms' managed growth, they overreach with a plan that is always illegal and often involves global destruction.

"LICENSE TO FAIL: The Business Mistakes of Bond Villains" finally takes these entrepreneurs to task, proving that the downfall of each is not due to the intervention of government operative James Bond, but is actually the consequence of bad business decisions.

- Should Blofeld hire teenage fashion models with severe allergy problems to distribute a lethal virus? (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
- Is Hugo Drax's sorting of his employees according to hotness a viable human resources strategy? (Moonraker)
- Is staging an "Enter The Dragon"-themed martial arts tournament an effective way to combat state-sponsored espionage? (The Man With The Golden Gun)
- Should a ruthless media mogul introduce himself to a new market by hanging Big Brother-esque posters of his grimacing face all over the country's capital? (Tomorrow Never Dies)
- Should Le Chiffre try to make money playing poker if bluffing causes his eyeball to bleed? (Casino Royale)

Goldfinger; Blofeld; Dr. No; Drax; Max Zorin of A View To A Kill; Trevelyan of GoldenEye; Le Chiffre of Casino Royale. These really are, to borrow a current phrase, the most interesting men alive. Driven and creative, organizational geniuses to a man. Capable of raising money for projects that would appear ludicrous were they written out on a cocktail napkin, much less detailed in a business plan.

Opposing these great men of vision is the James Bond. His tools amount to little more than rampant womanizing and martini-fueled mayhem -- basically being the biggest jerk in the bar. He's going to steal your girl, blow up the building and will probably receive a medal for his troubles.

LICENSE TO FAIL examines this intersection of entrepreneurial ambition and government overreach, ineach of the 22 James Bond films. Hilarious and insightful, LICENSE TO FAIL guarantees you will never look at a multinational firm's plans for global destruction the same way again.