What could be more intriguing than a management book built around a gripping story of exploration? The 1911-12 race between British explorer Robert Scott and Norwegian Roald Amundsen to be first to the South Pole provides the rarest of case studies. Two teams carry out the same project. One is spectacularly successful; the other fails miserably. Just about everything about good--and bad--planning, management expert Fergus O'Connell maintains, can be learned from these leaders.

The results of poor planning are not always as dire as they were for Scott. But in business, poor planning can...