Few managers are better cast in the role of fixer than David W. Thursfield, the most intense Ford Motor executive this side of Jacques Nasser, the deposed chief executive.
Under intense stress, executives think they recognize what is happening in a situation and make premature decisions, she said.
It deals with a theme Serling would return to over and over again: somebody under intense pressure, an executive, trying to return to a simpler time".
The concoction sings of lobster and saffron, and it is even more intense when the executive chef, Francisco Diaz, reduces it in half before serving and adds lobster, jumbo tiger shrimp, littleneck clams and cod.
Microsoft's effort to make Bing stand out from Google in the search business is led by Mr. Lu, a wiry, intense former Yahoo executive, who regularly asks his lieutenants to ponder an existential question for Microsoft's search efforts.
"This team seems more military oriented, and I predict that political disputes, such as human rights and democracy issues, will be moderated while military disagreements, on issues like Taiwan and missile defense and arms control, will become more intense," said Yan Xuetong, executive director of the Institute of International Studies at Qinghua University in Beijing.
Through television campaigns and intense lobbying, company executives sought not merely to sink the Kyoto treaty, but to rubbish the very notion of climate change.
Director Darren Aronofsky ultimately prevailed with his version of the biblical epic Noah but that was only after intense exchanges with executives from Paramount Pictures, who had made their own cuts which they felt might be more audience friendly.
"I'VE never seen risk aversion this intense," says the chief executive of a large European bank.
"The program is intense," said Jeffrey Ferguson, the executive vice president of Marriott International's senior living services division in Washington.
