About the Author

The purpose of this story is to examine the adventures of a head coach during his 3-year stint with a professional basketball team--that would eventually win an NBA championship without him as their leader. The man was Doug Collins, hired by the Chicago Bulls' organization to lead their team in 1986. Like other men and women who are hired as leaders, Collins was subsequently fired at the end of a fantastic voyage (Gamson & Scotch, 1986; Grusky, 1964). A leader's adventures have common threads whether one is a captain of a ship, leader of a club, P.T.A. president, scout leader, supervisor, CEO, team captain, or school principal. These include reorganization, conflict, meetings, communication, culture, and leader succession.