Smith & Company, The Bob Martin Vignettes

It was Smith & Company Worldwide Managing Director Bob Martin’s habit while traveling to rise at 5 am and make his way over to a treadmill at the hotel gym, where he would mentally prepare for the day ahead. Today was no different. As the machine at the J.W. Marriott in Hong Kong whirred up to a brisk 10 mph, Martin considered ways to handle two live management issues: a top performing partner who had reduced staff to tears, and a sponsored consultant who was likely to not return to Smith after business school. He looked forward to the client lunch he would have in between handling these two issues. This case is available for purchase from ECCH.