But it was crystal clear who$$d made the negative

comments in the assessment of one executive.

Lance Best, the CEO of Barker Sports Apparel,

was meeting with Nina Kelk, the company$$s general counsel, who also oversaw human resources.

It had been a long day at the company$$s Birmingham, England, headquarters, and in the early

evening the two were going over the evaluations

of each of Lance$$s direct reports. Lance was

struck by what he saw in CFO Damon Ewen$$s file.

Most of the input was neutral, which was to be

expected. Though brilliant and well respected,

Damon wasn$$t the warmest of colleagues. But

one person had given him the lowest ratings

possible, and from the written remarks, Lance

could tell that it was Ahmed Lund, Barker$$s head

of sales. One read: $$I$$ve never worked with a

bigger control freak in my life.$$

$$These comments are pretty vicious,$$

Lance said.

$$You$$re surprised?$$ Nina asked.

$$I guess not,$$ Lance acknowledged.

His CFO and his sales chief had been at loggerheads for a while. Ahmed$$s $360$ also contained a

few pointed complaints about his working style$1$

$$

no doubt from Damon.

Lance sighed. Five years earlier, when he$$d

stepped into his role, he$$d been focused on

growing the company that his father, Eric$$the

previous CEO$$had founded. Barker licensed the

rights to put sports leagues$$ logos on merchandise

and partnered with large brands to produce it for

retail markets, and when Lance took the company over, its revenues were about $100$ million.

Soon after, he$$d landed the firm$$s biggest partner,

Howell. Negotiating the deal with the global brand

had been a challenge, but it increased business

so much that Lance and his direct reports still felt

they didn$$t have enough hours in the day to get

everything done. They certainly didn$$t have time

for infighting like this$\mathrm{.}2$

$$So what do we do with this info?$$ Lance asked.

The feedback in the

$360-$degree reviews was

supposed to be anonymous.

BORIS GROYSBERG

is the Richard P$.$

Chapman Professor at

Harvard Business School.

He is a coauthor of Talk

Inc.: How Trusted Leaders

Use Conversation to Power

Their Organizations. Twitter:

@bgroysberg. KATHERINE

CONNOLLY BADEN is

a research associate at

Harvard Business School.

HBR$$s fictionalized case

studies present problems

faced by leaders in real

companies and offer

solutions from experts.

This one is based on the

HBS Case Study $$Blake

Sports Apparel and Switch

Activewear: Bringing the

Executive Team Together,$$

by Boris Groysberg and

Katherine Connolly Baden

$($case no$.417048-$PDFENG$),$ which is available

at HBR$.$org.

CASE STUDY

BAD BLOOD ON THE SENIOR TEAM

HOW SHOULD A CEO ADDRESS FRICTION

BETWEEN HIS CFO AND THE SALES CHIEF?

BY BORIS GROYSBERG AND

KATHERINE CONNOLLY BADEN

Harvard Business Review

January$$February $2019145$

Nina shrugged. $$This is the first time

I$$ve been through this process myself.$$

$$Right$.$ Clearly I$$ve got to do something, though. I know that Ahmed and

Damon aren$$t mates, but I do expect

them to be civil.$$

Nina nodded, but Lance sensed she

was biting her tongue. $$You can be honest with me$,$ Nina. I need your counsel.$$

$$Well$,$ she said tentatively, $$I think

that$$s part of the problem. The expectation is that we$$re civil, but that doesn$$t

translate to collaboration. We all trust

you, but there isn$$t a whole lot of trust

between the team members.$3$

$$So does everyone think Damon is

awful?$$ he asked, pointing to the report.

Nina shook her head. $$It$$s not just

about him. You can see from the feedback that Ahmed isn$$t a saint either. He

picks fights with Damon, and the tension

between them$$and their teams$$has

been having a ripple effect on the rest of

us$.$ You see the finger$-$pointing. It seems

like everyone is out for themselves.$$

Although Lance hated hearing this, it

wasn$$t news. He$$d just tried to convince

himself that the problems were growing

pains and would sort themselves out.

After all, sales and finance were often at

odds in organizations, and the conflict

hadn$$t had a big impact on Barker$$s revenues. They$$d grown $22\%$ the previous

year and $28\%$ the year before that.

Of course, none of that growth had

come easily, and opportunities had certainly been missed. Barker had dropped

the ball on inquiries from several

retailers interested in its products by

failing to coordinate getting them into

the company$$s system quickly. Now,

Lance realized that might be a sign of

more fallout to come. He needed to fix

this. $$My dad always wanted to do one of

those team$-$building retreats,$4$ he said,

smiling. This had been a running joke

among Barker$$s executives for years.

Whenever Eric had sensed tension, he

would mention the idea, but he never

followed through.

Nina laughed. $$Unfortunately$,$ I think

we$$re beyond that.$$

THIS MESS

The next morning, Lance was in his

office when he got a text from Jhumpa