You're a CEO, senior manager, or board member watching your once-great company brought to its knees. You imagine yourself on the deck of the Titanic, your world coming to an end—your once confident self embarrassed in front of colleagues, competitors, friends, family, and the larger communities in which you once thrived and were held in such high esteem.

That is the first sentence of my just-released book published by John Wiley & Sons on governance, risk management and compliance. It analyzes the common threads when once-great companies see their fortunes sink, while others withstand economic turbulence and hazards to continue to ...