As far as anyone could tell, Vigor Skin Care's star was rising, mostly on the strength of Ageless Vigor, its new line of enriched skin cleansers and cosmetics. In fact, this evening, the three employees responsible for developing the product line were slated to receive the parent company's highest award for performance. But CEO Peter Markles knew that despite the accolades, the business unit--and its "fearsome threesome"--had hit a rough patch in recent months. When Peter took the reins four years ago, Vigor Skin Care was the sleeping dog of the health-and-beauty industry; his challenge was to rejuvenate the maturing business. He knew a turnaround would require equal parts discipline, politics, and creativity--so he pulled together a team that could address those needs. Their all-consuming, intensely collaborative efforts resulted in the successful Ageless Vigor line. Then reality set in. The team found the day-to-day operations of manufacturing Ageless Vigor a bit tedious. Peter felt relegated to troubleshooting distribution problems. Another team member was meeting with executives from another division who were actively recruiting the wunderkind. Another member was simply on the verge of burnout. Tonight, at the award ceremony, there would be speeches and applause and toasts. But tomorrow, Peter would have to face the question: Should he try to salvage the Ageless Vigor team? In R0107A and R0107Z, Marshall Goldsmith, Nancy Bologna, Martin Puris, and John R. Katzenbach offer their advice on the problem presented in this fictional case study.

As far as anyone could tell, Vigor Skin Care's star was rising, mostly on the strength of Ageless Vigor, its new line of enriched skin cleansers and cosmetics. In fact, this evening, the three employees responsible for developing the product line were slated to receive the parent company's highest award for performance. But CEO Peter Markles knew that despite the accolades, the business unit--and its "fearsome threesome"--had hit a rough patch in recent months. When Peter took the reins four years ago, Vigor Skin Care was the sleeping dog of the health-and-beauty industry; his challenge was to rejuvenate the maturing business. He knew a turnaround would require equal parts discipline, politics, and creativity--so he pulled together a team that could address those needs. Their all-consuming, intensely collaborative efforts resulted in the successful Ageless Vigor line. Then reality set in. The team found the day-to-day operations of manufacturing Ageless Vigor a bit tedious. Peter felt relegated to troubleshooting distribution problems. Another team member was meeting with executives from another division who were actively recruiting the wunderkind. Another member was simply on the verge of burnout. Tonight, at the award ceremony, there would be speeches and applause and toasts. But tomorrow, Peter would have to face the question: Should he try to salvage the Ageless Vigor team? In R0107A and R0107Z, Marshall Goldsmith, Nancy Bologna, Martin Puris, and Jon R. Katzenbach offer their advice on this fictional case study.

As far as anyone could tell, Vigor Skin Care's star was rising, mostly on the strength of Ageless Vigor, its new line of enriched skin cleansers and cosmetics. In fact, this evening, the three employees responsible for developing the product line were slated to receive the parent company's highest award for performance. But CEO Peter Markles knew that despite the accolades, the business unit--and its "fearsome threesome"--had hit a rough patch in recent months. When Peter took the reins four years ago, Vigor Skin Care was the sleeping dog of the health-and-beauty industry; his challenge was to rejuvenate the maturing business. He knew a turnaround would require equal parts discipline, politics, and creativity--so he pulled together a team that could address those needs. Their all-consuming, intensely collaborative efforts resulted in the successful Ageless Vigor line. Then reality set in. The team found the day-to-day operations of manufacturing Ageless Vigor a bit tedious. Peter felt relegated to troubleshooting distribution problems. Another team member was meeting with executives from another division who were actively recruiting the wunderkind. Another member was simply on the verge of burnout. Tonight, at the award ceremony, there would be speeches and applause and toasts. But tomorrow, Peter would have to face the question: Should he try to salvage the Ageless Vigor team? In R0107A and R0107Z, Marshall Goldsmith, Nancy Bologna, Martin Puris, and Jon R. Katzenbach offer their advice on this fictional case study.

By the time Greg Summe joined EG&G in 1998, the company badly needed to shed the weight of past glories and rediscover the technological innovation that had been at its heart. First as president and COO and later as chairman and CEO, Summe applied a cool rationalism to the company's strategy and paid close attention to preparing its people for a new competitive environment. The result, less than three years later, is PerkinElmer, a high-tech darling whose stock has more than tripled since Summe's arrival. The first task, he says, was establishing more ambitious performance goals, specific metrics and rewards, and more accountability. The company also consolidated its 31 businesses into four strategic business units, integrated sales forces, shifted production to the Far East, developed a corporatewide materials-purchasing program, and raised profit and growth goals. It established four rigorous, corporatewide processes: goal setting to drive strategy; a leadership and organizational review to develop talent; an annual operating plan to set performance goals; and a procurement, quality, and productivity program for continuous improvement.