Jo Anne Heywood (B)

By Garth Saloner, Angie Strange, Alex Tauber, Amanda West
2005 | Case No. E204B
The vignette is a continuation of the Jo Anne Heywood (A) vignette. In the first vignette, Heywood wonders how she should approach her first Board meeting with the news that sales have significantly missed projections. In the (B) vignette, although Heywood leaves the meeting feeling like she has avoided a disaster, she still feels she has a lot to prove. After all, she agreed to get sales “back on track” during the next couple of months. After the Board meeting, Heywood’s relationship with Johnson becomes tense. Although sales continue to grow, they do not grow as quickly as the Board is hoping for. Heywood tries to proactively manage the “sales issue” with the Board. She regularly calls Board members with updates. On several occasions, the directors assure Heyworth that she is doing “fine” given the tough sales environment. Despite their constant assurances, Heywood feels that something is amiss with the Board. She feels she is seeing a lot of “nodding heads” from directors who are not expressing their true concerns. Heywood just can’t shake the feeling that something is going on behind the scenes and that she is being left out. At the end of the vignette, Heywood feels a rock in the pit of her stomach. She wonders what she should do about this feeling that something is going on behind the scenes and that she is being left out; this feeling that things are not fine with regards to sales. Should she call a Board meeting to discuss this undercurrent? If so, how should she approach the Board with this issue? Alternatively, should she approach individual directors? If so, who should she approach and how should she raise the issue?
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