FIFA president Sepp Blatter and heir apparent Michel Platini were both banned from the sport for eight years by FIFA’s ethics committee in a belated display of zeal that has convinced no one of its ability to clean house and reform. The two presided over the sport at a time of scandal on an epic scale, resulting in, among other things, a Swiss police raid that culminated in the U.S. indictment of nine senior soccer officials and 16 others for money laundering and racketeering. Both Blatter and Platini have vehemently protested their innocence, but neither has been able to provide a written contract for the $2 million paid to Platini by FIFA in 2011 (for services rendered a decade earlier, according to the pair).
The following five types of failure are commonplace:
1. The pathological leader
There is a disturbing tendency for us to elevate narcissists, bullies and psychopaths to lead us. Perhaps they make us feel safe for a while, but ultimately people like Robert Maxwell, Al “Chainsaw” Dunlap and political despots through history leave us a tattered legacy.
2. The inflexible leader
The world does not stand still, and neither can leaders. Business history is littered with the wreckage of firms whose leaders failed to adapt their style and strategy to changing times, such as Kodak or Lehman Brothers.
3. The over-reaching leader
There have been leaders who have tried to bend the world to their will – stretching their vision to breaking point. There have been plenty of these in political history, from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher.

4. The lopsided leader
It is OK for leaders to have an unbalanced portfolio of skills, but only if they have re-balancing co-leaders and teams. Those who don’t fail to meet critical challenges of the role, such as Fred Goodwin of RBS, who was all operations and no strategy.
5. The unlucky leader
Louis Pasteur said: “Chance favours the prepared mind”, and leaders have to be able to ride their luck. The financial crisis destroyed many firms, but good leaders hedge against extreme circumstances. Yet even good men and women can go to the wall if the sky falls in on their business.
The discussion stimulated a spirited debate about what we need more and less of in leadership, and what we can do about it. Some key observations were:
•    We need more flexible leadership models, where the function is more rationally shared among people.
•    Organisational structure and culture reform is part of the key to attracting more women into leadership.
•    Leadership has to have value propositions at its core. We all suffer when leaders are self-serving rather than oriented to their communities.
•    The role of boards and their chairmen is widely misunderstood and needs to be reconstituted around the fitness of the firm.
•    The ability to learn is the only way to gain competitive advantage and leaders are central to the process.
•    Vision is key – leaders with the ability to see what others can’t and make a dream or idea tangible are needed.
•    We are impeded by our primitive desire for perfect, god-like leaders. We need to shape organisational life to expect and deal with imperfections.
United Airlines is facing a turbulent public reaction over its treatment of a passenger who was physically dragged from a flight.
A man who was traveling on United Airlines flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was forcibly removed when the flight was oversold Sunday night. The Chicago to Louisville flight was oversold and several passengers were chosen at random to be bumped from the flight, including the man and his wife. Passenger Jayse Anspach, who tweeted video of the incident, said that security pulled the man, who says he’s a doctor, from his chair after he refused to leave the aircraft.
1. Never compromise your core values
No matter how difficult the situation, leaders must always act in line with company values. Values bind our organization together. They are immutable. If leaders do not act in accordance with stated values, it creates confusion among employees and customers. United has well defined set of core values:

“Warm and welcoming is
who we are”
We “make decisions with
facts and empathy”
“We earn trust by doing
things the right way”

United’s actions were inconsistent with their stated values. Mr. Munoz’s letter to his employees failed to address the gap between the company’s actions and its values. Mr. Munoz created confusion among its employees and customers. It makes an outsider wonder if United is a company that lives and breathes its values or if its values simply are just a marketing and PR function.
2. Hold yourself accountable
When things go wrong, it is easy to look for someone else to blame. The customer is not always right, and sometimes the customer may have contributed to a problem. That said, don’t blame the customer. The bulk of Munoz’s letter focused on the customer’s actions instead of the company’s actions. Munoz stated: The customer “was approached a few more times…in order to gain his compliance to come off the aircraft, and each time he refused and became more and more disruptive and belligerent.”
3. Anticipate what can go wrong
It’s not a stretch of the imagination to envision a scenario where a passenger becomes very upset if he or she is denied boarding (especially when already seated). What other actions could have been taken to diffuse this situation, short of dragging an innocent person off the plane? Were employees empowered to raise the compensation to a higher level? For instance, had United diffused the situation by raising passenger compensation from $1000 to $1500, it would have been a small price to pay in lieu of the current PR nightmare.
4. You can’t walk it back
A day after Mr. Munoz issued his tepid response to the incident, he issued a much more appropriate reply. In his first reply, Munoz focused on an apology for having to re-accommodate customers and on the “disruptive and belligerent” passengers.
Napoleon—and Hitler—are famously known to have met with the reversal of their fortunes through invading Russia. Yet, in both cases, the wealth and resources of the British played a major role in their downfall. Despite Britain’s comparatively small population and territorial base, it alone among European countries was able to fight Napoleon nonstop (except for the short Peace of Amiens from 1802-1803, Britain was at war with France from 1793-1815 while other states alternated between war, peace, and alliance with France).
Know how to handle Russia
Invading Russia is unlikely to go well because of the country’s huge strategic depth; armies can simply retreat east into Siberia and fight a war of attrition while winter defeats the invaders. However, as Napoleon discovered initially, it is possible to defeat Russia and come to terms with it in limited warfare outside of or on the periphery of Russia’s borders.
Fighting against a weaker enemy in the Middle East is an uphill battle
The French army led by Napoleon that invaded Egypt in 1798 was vastly superior in a conventional sense to the loosely-organized Mamluk force they defeated decisively at the Battle of the Pyramids on July 21, 1798. The hard part started after this—and not only because the British destroyed the French fleet, cutting off their access to France. Napoleon then had to accomplish the task of ruling over Egypt with only a small force of loyal Frenchmen in proportion to the native population; he faced multiple revolts.
Know when to stop
Unlike many other conquerors, and contrary to popular thought, Napoleon was not a warmonger. Most of his initial campaigns were fought to protect France and the French Revolution against attack from the British, Austrians, Russians, and Prussians. However, his fault was that he was a micromanager and could not let things go. His micromanagement extended to him offering unsolicited advice on all sorts of mundane or personal matters. Extended to political issues, this tendency sometimes bore fruit, like the Napoleonic Code of law that is the basis of most European law codes today. Often though, his obsession for scrupulously maintaining his system throughout Europe caused him to overextend.
Transformational leaders are described to hold positive expectations for followers, believing that they can do their best. As a result, they inspire, empower, and stimulate followers to exceed normal levels of performance. Transformational leaders also focus on and care about followers and their personal needs and development. Transformational leaders fit well in leading and working with complex work groups and organizations, where beyond seeking an inspirational leader to help guide them through an uncertain environment, followers are also challenged and feel empowered; this nurtures them into becoming loyal, high performers.
•    Emphasizing intrinsic motivation and positive development
of followers
•    Raising awareness of moral
standards
•    Highlighting important priorities
•    Fostering higher moral
maturity in followers
•     Creating an ethical climate (share values, high ethical standards)
•     Encouraging followers to look beyond self-interests to the common good
•    Promoting cooperation
and harmony
•    Using authentic, consistent means
•    Using persuasive appeals
based on reason
•    Providing individual coaching and mentoring for followers
•    Appealing to the ideals of followers
•    Allowing freedom of
choice for followers
Outline of Causes  of Business Failure
1.    Not Seeking Professional Advice
2.    Lack of Good Customer Care
3.    Copying Others
4.    Lack of Experience
5.    Unaccountability
6.    Lack of Personal Growth
7.    Poor Location
8.    Lack of Focus
9.    Wrong Expectation
10.    Quitting Too Soon
No matter how informed you feel you are, once you want to startup a new line of business, it is pertinent that you seek professional advice. This will help you ascertain whether or not the business is profitable as you thought. Most times, entrepreneurs start up a business because they find others doing the business and profiting. Yes, they might be profiting from the same business but there might be a secret behind the success. It might be location, good customer service, knowing the right source to get raw materials etc.
Is very important that you make your customer care a priority. A business with good customer care grows. Good customer care brings return customer and return customers bring referral customers. If you do not treat your customer well, they go to your competitors. Learn to show your customers that you appreciate them. Always ask them questions about the product and offer them some percentage when they give your product a review (either positive or negative review). If you are not close to your customers, if you treat them like every other seller, they will only come when there is no other option. Bad customer care has killed a lot of businesses.
What worked for Mr. Francis must not work for Mr. Reader. Many people have gone into business or made a business choice because they see others doing it and think they can be successful in it if they try. It is good you add your own idea after proper consultation, that will distinct you from others. Copying without consultation leads to dead end.
Lack of experience is one of the causes of business failure. If you are inexperienced or your management is made up of novices, then your business is as good as dead. When starting a new business, it is advised you get the services of people experienced in that field. They can be your partners or you employee. Get experienced marketers and well trained customer service personnel.
Some startups were being sold the idea that all they need to do is get into business and the money starts rolling in without doing anything. Sometimes it is the person’s fault because they only hear what they want to hear or they think they know better. Bottom line, building a successful business is not a 60-yard dash but a marathon. If you don’t want to die in poverty or see your business collapse, then you must be diligent.

The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions