Case Study: An Uncertain World

Barbara shut the door behind her, kicked off her shoes, and collapsed into a chair. She was tired, she was happy, she was excited about the future.and to think that eighteen months ago she was ready to give it all away. It had seemed like a hopelessly uncertain world - but for tonight she was on top of it.

Two years ago she had been asked to take over as CEO of Edren when her boss had a heart attack. Barbara had been the uncontroversial caretaker candidate, a choice that the Board could make without anointing either of the two more aggressive succession candidates. The boss was expected to recover and return within months, and the Board didn't want the business taken too far off his agenda while he recovered. The biggest expectation of Barbara was that she would do nothing of great significance and cause no harm.

Barbara herself had no great expectations that she would be considered a serious successor, but she wanted to take the opportunity to learn and grow. One of the Board members recommended that she talk to Zaffyre about some strategic mentoring, and Barbara had only had one session when lighting struck - twice. The boss suffered a second massive heart attack and died. And a competitor started a surprise takeover bid for the company.

At first, Barbara felt frozen in the headlights. Her supporter on the Board argued against letting her step down and appointing one of the more aggressive men. A choice between them would polarise the executive team and take a lot of energy from the Board to manage. Both the Board and the executives had a lot better uses for their time than sorting out internal squabbles. And so, reluctantly, Barbara agreed to stay and navigate Edren through the uncharted waters of the takeover attempt.

Both the Board and her executive team were emphatically opposed to the takeover, but Barbara felt that their behaviour was so defensive that they weren't considering some positive possibilities. Edren had quite ambitious strategies but over the past several years had made little progress in implementing them. Part of the failure was due to lack of capital, and part of it was due to lack of real commitment and belief in themselves. Through her work with Zaffyre, Barbara had begun to think that they all were capable of and deserved better.

As they worked with Zaffyre, new conversations began in the Boardroom and the executive team meetings, and they commited to some serious, specific steps towards their goals. As they succeeded and gained confidence in their integrated strengths and capabilities, their thinking broke through to new and higher ground. Suddenly the analysts and the press started to talk about them as the undervalued target of a predator, and other potential buyers entered with higher offers.

To fulfil its new and loftier ambitions, Edren needed partnerships, both financial and practical. Barbara and her Board had "interviewed" half a dozen potential buyers over the past year, and finally made their recommendation to their delighted shareholders two months ago. The shareholders had followed their recommendation and taken up the offer, and Edren was now a proud and powerful core business unit within a global industry leader.

The Board of course was dispersed, and the new owners had also followed their two final recommendations. One was that Barbara be confirmed as the head of the new business unit, to lead it toward the vision that she had created with her team over the last eighteen months. The other was that the new owners should continue working with Zaffyre.

Return to top of page