By Dan Hammond, Chief Disruption Officer, LIW

Just eight weeks ago, WeWork was planning to IPO with a valuation of $47billion. It is now on the edge of bankruptcy.

Its charismatic CEO Adam Neumann managed to secure billions of dollars in funding for a business model that does not stand up to scrutiny.

What does this mean for leadership?

Avoiding this situation is not quite as easy as ABC but here it is anyway:

  • A is for Arithmetic. As Marketing Professor Scott Galloway says, this is a ‘win for math’. The numbers have not stacked up for a while. Get your calculator out.
  • B is Board. Where was the countervailing force of good governance?
  • C is for Charisma. How many times do we have to write this? ‘Charismatic leadership’ is linked to poor results. If you see it, pay particular attention to the numbers!