The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A fable for managers (and their employees)

PART FOUR

Going Live

TURNAROUND

Desert Mountain Sports was an underperforming medium-sized company trying its best, it seemed, to become a small one. As the sporting goods market was consolidating—something Brian was all too familiar with—few suitors were lining up to acquire the Reno-based chain. The only offers the DMS board had received were embarrassingly low.

As Rick Simpson became more and more frustrated at his inability to generate interest in DMS, he came to the conclusion that the company needed to be cleaned up before it would be attractive. “Let’s put some lipstick on this pig,” he said on more than one occasion, eliciting a pained ...