Your Next Move

7

The Realignment Challenge

IF STEFAN EISENBERG KNEW ANYTHING, IT WAS HOW TO manage in times of crisis. After all, he’d overseen a relatively quick and successful turnaround of European manufacturing operations at Careco Devices, a multinational medical devices company. He was less sure, however, that this sort of approach would be effective in his new role at the firm.

Before joining Careco, Stefan, a hard-driving, no-nonsense executive, had spent fourteen years moving up the ranks in manufacturing at a leading automaker headquartered in southern Germany—starting as a productivity analyst and ending up as the general manager of the firm’s largest assembly plant. Senior-level slots at the car company were in short supply, and Stefan didn’t want ...