Casting his eye over a formidable collection of military incompetents, Dixon finds that the generals who fail all exhibit the same psychological characteristics. They are passive and courteous, obstinate and rigid, ambitious and insensitive. In short, they are all psychological cripples—walking wounded who bear no visible scars.

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.