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CHAPTER 1TAKING CONTROL:It’s Harder Than You Think

I’ll never forget the date: September 4, 1984. There I was in my Brooks Brothers suit and my shiny new wing tips, carrying the hard-sided leather briefcase that was empty except for a handful of pens and pencils. Having grown up in a small town in Kansas, I’d never been in a skyscraper office building before I went on job interviews. But as a graduate of the University of Southern California and having passed the CPA exam, I was fortunate enough to receive several job offers from accounting and consulting firms. When I walked through the heavy oak door of Peat Marwick Mitchell (today’s KPMG), I felt like I’d arrived—until I met all the others.

There were 125 of us in that year’s class of new hires, and that was just in the Los Angeles office. Then they gave us the speech: Within two years, 50 percent of us would be gone—and even more within four years. Only one or maybe two of us would ever make partner.

Things started to change with the first assignment: Global merger? Massive restructuring? Takeover attempt? Nope—moving boxes.

I heard others complain, but I had worked summers in college as a mover—although not in a suit that I couldn’t afford to get dirty. I moved boxes all week, from office to office and between floors. When I was done with the boxes, I was given a phone book and a 10-key calculator and told to add the ...