1. Leadership is a highly prized process and capability.

Organizations invest billions of dollars each year in recruiting and developing leadership talent. As more companies compete primarily on the basis of how well they employ their human capabilities, the importance of leadership continues to grow. This exercise will provide you with an opportunity to play coach to a leader entering a challenging situation.

Step 1: Get into groups. Your professor will assign you to pairs or small groups.

Scenario: The opening “What would you do?” segment in this chapter focused on the challenges facing the new CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP). HP is a company with a remarkable tradition of product and management innovations, including a much-admired business philosophy known as the “HP Way.” But as the opening segment makes clear, over the past several years HP seems to have lost its way. As the new CEO scans the situation, it is diffi cult to know how to prioritize. Where to begin?

Assume that the members of your small team are a group of consultants working with HP’s new CEO.

Your job is behind the scenes—you are simply helping the CEO to brainstorm and think carefully about how to lead this company, improve performance, and restore the once-vibrant HP culture.

Step 2: Outline leadership criteria. Work as a team to develop a set of leadership recommendations that are well-matched to the HP situation. What do you think employees need most from their new leader?

Should the CEO help employees to look back and learn from the company’s past, or should the CEO encourage employees to move on and focus on the future? What are the tradeoffs of each approach? The opening segment highlights some key areas of concern:

(a) structural issues (for example, problems with the matrix structure);

(b) unclear vision;

(c) declining fi nancial and marketing performance;

(d) distrust and low morale. So how would you recommend that the CEO prioritize these issues? Are there creative possibilities for tackling some of these concerns simultaneously?

Step 3: Determine a coaching plan. Prepare to coach the CEO during the process of transforming HP. How might path-goal thinking help the CEO guide HP employees through the transition? What should the CEO keep in mind regarding such situational factors as worker readiness, situation favorableness, and environmental contingencies? Assuming the CEO possesses charismatic capabilities, would you recommend relying upon a charismatic leadership style in this situation?

Why, or why not?

Step 4: Debrief as a class. Share some of the highlights of your recommendations, and discuss what leadership consultants/coaches need to know to effectively advise their clients.