Do you know the story of the frog who is placed a pot of nice cool water, gets comfy, does not notice the water is slowly heating up and eventually boils to death?Do you also know the story of the lemming who is, as always, running with the pack, has little warning that those ahead are plummeting off an unseen cliff edge and, just like the others, plummets as well?Well, Bank of America was neither the frog nor the lemming in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis when it purchased Countrywide Financial Corp. for $4.1 billion. No, it was obvious Countrywide was awash with toxic mortgage assets that everyone had been fleeing from.So why did B of A stab itself in the chest? What led it to make such an egregious strategic error?

What do you do when you gain leadership of the worst organization?