Companies that Headhunters Avoid-Business Week

When Revlon (REV) hired Jack Stahl as CEO in 2002, the board thought he'd be a boss who could turn the cosmetics giant around. In his 22 years at Coca-Cola (KO), where he rose to president, the telegenic executive had become a darling of Wall Street for his financial savvy and operational discipline.

Stahl stumbled, however, when he left Coke. While he managed to pare down Revlon's heavy debt load, he lost millions on failed campaigns for new products, most notably an "age-defying" makeup line called Vital Radiance. Industry consultants say he relied too heavily on finance types who made basic marketing errors: The line was overpriced, curiously didn't incorporate the vaunted Revlon name, and used no-name models in its campaign. After four years of losses during which the stock lost roughly two-thirds of its value, Stahl left in 2006. "He didn't know what he didn't know," says Suzanne Grayson, a consultant who worked for Revlon in the 1960s and '70s. "He brought in statisticians instead of marketers, and the decisions they made were atrocious." Stahl and Revlon didn't respond to requests for comment.

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