At the end of 2016, the workplace productivity software company Asana faced a turning point. Launched in 2011 as a free online service, the firm added paid premium features in 2012 and grew exponentially. Four years later, millions of people used Asana's free version, while 35,000 companies, representing 140,000 teams and 10 million individuals, paid for its premium services. During its early years, Asana maintained a flat organization with no formal sales leader in place. Oliver Jay (OJ), Asana's first executive head of sales, was onboarded in late 2016. Observing key inefficiencies in the current sales processes as well as mounting competitive threats, OJ sought to create an organization capable of capturing the brand's full worldwide value. This case outlines the company's meteoric rise and asks students to consider OJ's best path forward.

In 2016, the hair-loss solutions company Hair Club conducted a review of its business practices and identified issues with its sales operations. Although Hair Club had some very satisfied customers, it struggled to convert potential customers into regular, paying clients resulting in a loss of revenue. To address the issues identified in the review, Hair Club hired Marcus Wright, a sales professional in the healthcare and beauty industries, as its vice president of sales operations. He was tasked with analyzing Hair Club's sales process to determine how the company can turn more potential customers into paying clients who will also refer their friends and family. Wright and Hair Club considered how to improve the quality and number of potential clients who set up a meeting with a consultant and how to modify the consultation process and follow-up to increase Hair Club's sales.

At the June 2007, Central City Medical Group (CCMG) board meeting, Deb Moore, Executive Director, reported that there were mounting tensions caused by the implementation of an electronic health record (EHR). Physician morale and productivity were spiraling downward. The present challenge was the growing gap between the patient workload and physician capacity, as physicians remained well below historic productivity levels while learning to use the new EHR. The medical director had resigned her post and other senior physicians were threatening to retire. Ms. Moore had a pressing question for the board: should CCMG stop accepting new patients until they returned to full productivity?

Executives should not take a reputation for ethical leadership for granted. Based on interviews with senior executives and corporate ethics officers, this article reveals that a reputation for executive ethical leadership rests on two essential pillars: the executive's visibility as a moral person (based upon perceived traits, behaviors, and decision-making processes) and visibility as a moral manager (based upon role modeling, use of the reward system, and communication). Developing a reputation for ethical leadership pays dividends in reduced legal problems and increased employee commitment, satisfaction, and employee ethical conduct. The alternatives are the unethical leader, the hypocritical leader (who talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk), and the ethically neutral leader (who may be an ethical person, but employees don't know it because the leader has not made ethics and values an explicit part of the leadership agenda). The article also offers guidelines for cultivating a reputation for ethical leadership.