Brilliant sunshine and brittle cold snapped Ed Davidson awake as he emerged from Zurich Airport, trailing the limousine driver who moments before had met him at the security checkpoint. After being hermetically sealed in a jumbo jet for hours, focused on a laptop, some analyst reports, his cluttered tray table—nothing more than a few yards away—he shielded his watering eyes. But by the time he reached the car, he was grinning broadly. The skier in him rejoiced at the January air and the prospect of six days in the Alps. He ducked into the backseat, pushing his briefcase ahead of him. He was on his way to Davos.
Left on a Mountainside
Reprint: R0401A
Ed Davidson is on top of the world, literally and figuratively, at the beginning of this fictional case study. He’s in the Swiss Alps, headed for Davos and his first experience as a delegate to the World Economic Forum’s annual conference. And he has reason to believe he is about to be made president of his company, Carston Waite—and therefore heir apparent to the CEO position.
Then his phone rings. It’s his mentor, Frank Maugham, the CFO and a board member at Carston Waite, calling to inform him of a major setback. “David asked me to let you know you are not going to be named president,” he says. “At least not yet. He wants to stay close to the business.” But Frank has a plan to change the CEO’s mind.
Meanwhile, Ed feels betrayed and humiliated—and his desire for revenge against the CEO mounts. When the news comes that Frank’s plan has failed and has cost Frank his job, Ed is already deep in a plot of his own. He’s in Davos because David had to back out; Ed is supposed to deliver the CEO’s remarks in his stead. But why not use this opportunity on the world stage instead to deal a parting blow?
A psychoanalyst, a psychiatrist, an executive coach, and a governance expert comment on Ed’s state of mind and his best course of action. They are Kenneth Eisold, the president of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations; Dee Soder, the founder and managing partner of the CEO Perspective Group; Jeffrey P. Kahn, the CEO of WorkPsych Associates; and Charles M. Elson, the Edgar S. Woolard, Jr., Chair of Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.