Fred led the group to O’Hare’s tavern after work that night. He started a tab and ordered a round of drinks for everyone from the company. As more people arrived, there were cheers and high-fives as coworkers rejoiced about their good fortune. Fred raised his glass in a toast. Silence spread over the group as everyone turned toward him with a raised glass: “The Pit Bull is dead. Long live the Pit Bull!” he shouted to the glee of everyone there.
“Hear, hear!” they cheered and bursts of laughter and applause overtook the room. There was not a sad person in the place that night; quite a change from how most Friday nights at O’Hare’s had been over the past two years.
In the early days, things at the company had been good. Raises were excellent, bonuses generous, working conditions pleasant, and the chance to work for one of the oldest and most respected names in the business was personally rewarding to many people. Nevertheless, as with all good things, there was change. Two years before, the CEO, “Old Man Bailey” to his friends (and most employees were his friends), had sold his financial services company to a bigger competitor. However, like so many entrepreneurs, he just could not see himself quietly fading away. He needed to keep his hands in the business, so he negotiated an interim consulting position on the board to assist with the transition.
The board welcomed his advice and felt comfortable with his occasional visits to his former company’s (now a division) headquarters. Bailey wanted to keep the old values he had impressed upon his people alive in the company, and hoped that they would spread to the other parts of the bigger corporation, but this was not to be. The new parent corporation had many divisions and locations, and Bailey’s little piece of the corporate world, as well as his ability to influence, was lessening with each acquisition. Each division had its own values, service lines, and way of doing things, and the corporate staff had their own ideas about what the overall company culture ought to be like.
Pitchers of beer and bowls of peanuts were spread out over the tables in O’Hare’s back room. As staff from different departments mingled, those who had heard only some of the rumors sought out more information; others wanted to confirm what they had heard. It was great fun to collect different bits and pieces of the story and try to assemble a picture of the Pit Bull’s termination.
Although he made a point of staying out of the day-to-day running of the business, one decision in particular that bothered Bailey was the promotional transfer of Gus into the top slot as COO of the division. Bailey saw Gus as a status-conscious suck-up who avoided confrontation, didn’t hold people accountable, and was rather susceptible to flattery and attention. Bailey thought Gus spent too much time socializing with the corporate folks and not enough time getting things done in his division.
Six months after Gus’s promotion, all hell broke loose. For the first time in its long history, Bailey’s division failed to meet its targets, so much so that the market analysts were starting to make unflattering comments, endangering the reputation of the whole corporation. Making things worse, there was also the risk of a hefty, very public, and humiliating fine for noncompliance on some government work—a fact that had not reached the newspapers yet, but was sure to make headlines if not averted quickly. Bailey felt that he ought to let Gus go, and offered to run the operation until a suitable, better-qualified replacement could be found. The board disagreed. Rather, in an effort to help Gus in his new role, they decided to create a new director of operations position reporting to him.
One person who caught their attention as the perfect candidate for the job was Helen. Helen had come along with one of the other acquisitions and was touted as a rising star. Her performance review praised her spirit, diligence, focus, energy, and leadership talent. She had a reputation for shaking things up, for getting things done, and for meeting deadlines. Bailey was not impressed, pointing out that there had been considerable collateral damage along the way and that her division was underperforming and consistently exceeding budget. However, that did not seem to have concerned her management team, who put her on the key executive potential watch list. Bailey was amazed at how the corporate folks could ignore these numbers and consider putting someone who was used to spending money in charge of a financial problem. But, these were no longer his decisions to make.
Helen did very well in her interviews with the search committee members. Her dynamic and engaging manner and her self-proclaimed ability to fix organizational problems made her an obvious choice for the spot. Outside analysts would also see the appointment of such an assertive, vibrant, and directive person to a failing high-profile division as a very firm commitment to resolving some of the division’s performance issues. Her style and her manner matched what both the corporation and analysts wanted to see. The timing, the circumstances, and her abilities seemed like a good fit. With only one dissenting vote (Bailey’s), the board decided to make her the offer.
Helen was disappointed. She expected that Gus would be fired and she would get the top job. Human Resources explained to her that the newly created director job was a high-profile development position, the key position responsible for improving the day-to-day workings of the division; all eyes would be upon her to see if she could help Gus turn the division around in short order. Stellar performance in her new role would go a long way to fast and significant promotions down the line.
Helen said that she would consider the job on the condition that she receive all the support she needed to succeed, a reasonable request by all accounts. The corporation was prepared to take whatever steps necessary, and approve any request in order to fix the problem. In sharp contrast to the financial controls elsewhere within the corporation, therefore, Gus and Helen could have pretty much whatever resources they requested. With these assurances, effectively a blank check, Helen agreed to take the job.
In a little over six months, the problems that had plagued the division seemed to disappear. The service level on the government contracts rose to 95 percent delivery performance, the errors (human, computer, and procedural) that had created the problems were identified and quickly corrected, and the regulatory compliance question went away quietly. Helen was singled out for public praise for saving the division. Even Gus spoke favorably about her, especially her ethical conduct, diligence, and dedication to the job. The board voted to place her on the executive succession plan.
Fred made the rounds of tables around the room, receiving new toasts as he moved in and out. Bits and pieces of heated conversation were audible through the overall din. Rick, from the mailroom, confirmed that the state police had been at the back door to keep everyone inside. “And there were these two guys in black suits carrying out computers, files, and the contents of the shred bin,” he reported. Sheila, from security, confirmed that the call had come that morning, followed by the orders to put security staff by the front door. “Yes, handcuffs,” she responded to the questions from the marketing staff.
No one was surprised when Gus was removed from his position—except, perhaps, Gus—after Helen made arguments to the executive committee members that implicated him in the original business letdown. Helen was profoundly competitive, dramatic in her engagement with others, and just loved to take center stage and the limelight. Turning the division around gave her the platform she needed for a great career at the company. Naturally, she was the choice to replace Gus, and was rewarded by a promotion to his position as COO.
The front door of O’Hare’s opened slowly. There stood a rather large man in a long, black coat. He glanced at his wristwatch and moved toward the bar. O’Hare greeted the well-dressed man with a nod. Taking off his black gloves, the man ordered a ginger ale in a Scotch glass with a swizzle stick. O’Hare nodded and went to make the drink.
Most on Helen’s staff did not trust her. She treated the junior colleagues with disdain and a measure of contempt, often deriding their abilities and competence. To those she found useful to her career, however, she was gracious, engaging, and fun. She had a talent for presenting her good side to those she felt mattered, all the while denying, discounting, discarding, and displacing anyone who did not agree with her decisions. Helen told the corporate staff what they wanted to hear, stage-managing meetings with the executive team as if they were Hollywood productions. Helen was a master at impression management, and she effectively manipulated higher-ups, intimidated direct reports, and played up to key personalities important to her career.
Picking up his drink, the man looked around the tavern. The place was quiet except for the noise from the back room.
With Gus out of the way, Helen let loose her domineering management style. Histrionics were common during staff meetings, and participants often left bruised, battered, and humiliated. She would stomp around the new office complex—which she had leased because she wanted a bigger office—without acknowledging others, barking out orders, and generally intimidating, frightening, and pushing people around.
This was a total departure from the management style embodied in Bailey, a man whose door was always open, and who routinely made the rounds of the staff, soliciting new ideas to improve the business. Bailey valued his people and amazed new staff with his ability to remember their spouses’ names and children’s sports accomplishments. Bailey was a people person who was not only extremely bright, but also knew how to make money. He knew that his success—the success of the business—rested with the quality of his staff, and he shared the glory as well as the rewards with those around him.
Over the next few months, Helen hired in her own team to replace many of the more vocal opponents on her staff. Relying on her own gut-feel approach to talent acquisition, she would offer large sign-on bonuses to entice young, bright executives to leave their current jobs, but if she then decided—within weeks and sometimes even days—that they were inadequate, incompetent, or not loyal enough, she fired them. There was no concern about the damage she did to the careers and family lives of these people, or the legal problems she could potentially cause for the corporation. She also hired in a number of friends, often without consultation with human resources.
Helen seemed able to get away with whatever she wanted, including the purchase of the latest extravagance, whether this was a new car, expensive office furniture, corporate apartment, or the leasing of a corporate jet for her travels. Helen initiated a series of expensive management conferences, held in tropical locations, with prominent keynote speakers, in which she trumpeted the division’s accomplishments with herself taking the spotlight. Her claims of success were at odds with a growing lack of cohesion, lowered morale, and increased stress within the division—but somehow those at the top did not notice this discrepancy.
Questioning Helen’s behavior provoked intense reactions, as, for example, when she fired the executive coach hired by the corporation to help her smooth over her rough edges. She was never wrong and was interested only in hearing positive news. People resented the way she paraded about like a queen bee, showing off her status, power, and the executive privileges she assumed. Many on the staff were afraid of her; behind her back, they referred to her as the Pit Bull.
The man at the bar glanced at his wristwatch and looked around the room as if searching for someone. “They’re in there,” said O’Hare, nodding to the door to the back room. “I don’t think they are expecting you, but I’m sure you can go right in.”
What really irked the staff was Helen’s increasing absence from the office. Her second in command, Ned—a close, personal friend appointed by her to a new business development post—was often absent at the same time, provoking unkind rumors. Other, more critical rumors had him running another business on the side, in spite of the prohibitions of company policy. Ned’s presence was resented, but Helen protected him and no one dared contradict or question her.
Lynda, from accounting, sat at the back of the room sipping her wine. The raucous conversation of the colleagues who sat with her provided a soothing backdrop for her private thoughts. Just out of college with a degree in finance and accounting, Lynda was excited to be working for such a prestigious firm. She was also thrilled that Julie, the senior member of the audit team, let her introduce some forensic accounting techniques she learned in school to the department’s internal auditing procedures.
“You should be happy, Lynda,” said Julie. “You saw something and you said something, and the [expletive deleted] is gone.”
Lynda took a drink and smiled shyly. The last few weeks had been a living hell. When Ned told the Pit Bull that Lynda was delving deep into the company’s accounting database, she went ballistic on the entire finance department. She demanded Lynda be fired. Today was to be her last day.
“Listen, Lyn, the world is made up of all kinds of people, and you were unlucky to get a jerk, a criminal, on your first job. But most folks are honest and want to do a good job—you’re one of them, and you’re surrounded by friends—you did the right thing; you’re our hero.” A collective expression of support rose from the table, and Julie put her arm around Lynda, who smiled.
With glass in hand, the man in the black coat slowly pushed open the door to the back room. “Ned was found trying to escape through the cafeteria!” shrieked Sheila. “When they put the cuffs on him, he went nuts, demanding to call his lawyer!”
“What about the Pit Bull trying to escape on the jet?” questioned Sam, who was always the last to hear the latest gossip.
Seeing who had entered the room, Fred coughed loudly in an attempt to quiet down the group, but few heard him. Tapping his glass with his ring, he began to get the group’s attention. Loud noise turned to whispers, and whispers to complete silence as more and more people took notice of the gentleman’s arrival.
The fraud was as clever as it was brazen. No one suspected that most of the key accounts responsible for the turnaround and growth were completely phony. Little did those in the office realize that, using high-level access codes, Ned and the Pit Bull had also hacked the server and were able to make ever-so-small changes to several real customer accounts, gradually siphoning off assets to an offshore account. They could not imagine that they had been working right next to a couple of crooks.
The gentleman searched the faces in the room and smiled at those he still recognized. Seeing Shirley from accounting, he moved toward her table. Most of the folks had already risen, but Lynda, whose back was to the door, was still deep in her thoughts. As he moved forward, the crowd parted. Standing to her side, he asked, “Are you Lynda?” Surprised out of her reverie, she turned and saw who was standing next to her.
Few companies experience the high drama that unfolded that day. Ned, who by chance was in early that day, had seen the state police and several black vans pulling up and had had enough time to call Helen before he bolted out of his office toward the rear exit and into the hands of security. Helen was luckier. As the unmarked cars were coming down her street, she escaped out the back door of her palatial house and stole across the yard to the next street, where she always kept her second car parked and ready for just such an emergency. While they watched the corporate jet, few imagined that she also leased a private plane at a local airstrip on the other side of town.
“Yes, sir,” Lynda said, timidly.
“I wanted to thank you personally for all your help. I really do appreciate your courage and honesty.”
“Mr. Bailey,” said Fred, coming up behind him, “it’s great to see you. Welcome to our little celebration.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Fred. Looks like we’ve run out of beer,” he hinted. “The party’s on me, folks,” said Old Man Bailey as he sat down next to Lynda. “Fred, could you get me another drink? O’Hare knows what I take.”
Discussion Questions