www.hbr.orgANDCOMMENTARYHBR CASESTUDYThe Nice Guy by Russ Edelman and Tim HiltabiddleWhat must Paul do to land the top job? Four commentators offer expert advice.Reprint R0602AHBR CASESTUDYThe Nice Guyby Russ Edelman and Tim Hiltabiddleharvard business review february 2006page 1HBR s cases, which are fictional, present common managerial dilemmas and offer concrete solutions from experts. COPYRIGHT 2006 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.Paul Kennedy is a good fellow who trusts people, and he s in line to become CEO of Daner Associates. Is he tough enough for the job? 7:01 AMDriving East on Clifton Boulevard Toward Downtown Cleveland Damn. I m still stuck in traffic. Accident ahead? Thank goodness Larry doesn t show up these days until 11:00 at the earliest. I can get a lot done before our one-on-one later today pro-vided Lisa finalized those projections for theEuropean offices yesterday. Once she s plugged the numbers into the forecasting model, we ll have our economic case close to perfect. When I show Larry the expansion plans, he ll give me one of those arm punches and tell me howgreat I am. Maybe he ll say he s finally ready to pass me the baton. We could jointly announce it at the company meeting next week. Poor Sheila. She didn t look well this morn- ing when I kissed her goodbyeAmy had thesniffles last night. Hope we re not in for another winter cold. That s two already this year. I don t want Sheila to be sick on Friday. We ve got res-ervations at Giovanni s. Jeez, married 15 years already. Hard to believe. Can t wait til she sees the diamond studs I bought her. Note to self: Remember to buy roses. Brakes suddenly. Whoa, it would be nice if you signaled, lady! Oh, I see, “Baby on Board.” The kid s probably cryingI remember that time, driving Amy to day care. She dropped her bottle and screamed her head off. Wow, Clifton s a parking lot today. I ll give Lake a shot. I may as well try to make somecalls. Maybe Lisa s in the office already. 7:14 AMHeading Eastbound on Lake Avenue Calls Lisa on her cell. “Hi Lisa, it s me, Paul. Hey. I need to touch base on two things. First, how s your mom doing? Did she have a good night?.Uh huh.I see.Wow, I m sorry to hear that. That s really rough. Sheila sends her love. Please let Lilly know she s in our prayers, OK? The Nice GuyHBR CASESTUDYharvard business review february 2006page 2Russ Edelman(russe niceguystrategies.com) and Tim Hiltabiddle(timh niceguystrategies.com) are the founders of Nice Guy Strategies, a consulting firm in Boston. Also, I want to confirm that we re all set on the expansion numbers. I need the model for my meeting with Larry at 1:30.What?.Oh, I see. What time is her doctor s appointment? Mmmm.Uh, no, don t sweat it. Just do whatyou need to do, and I ll figure out a way to fi- nalize the data. Who was helping you out, Lynne or Aaron?Neither? Ugh. All right, all right. Call me when you re on your way in tothe office, OK? See ya.” Hangs up. Damn. This totally messes up my morning. Now I ll have to try to hack my way through the spreadsheet before the meeting. I can t imagine what it s like taking care of a parent with a terminal illness. How awful. But Lisa s really slipping. She was such a go-getter and a great operations manager, but her focus has been shot since her mother got sick. Last week she forgot to copy the latest spreadsheets to the network. Not cool. Work used to be a big priority in her life. But nowI know she still loves Daner as much as I do. It s in her blood. She s always telling me how much bet- ter the work environment is since I joined ten years ago. That long? I can remember so clearly whenLarry first told me about Daner Associates, the line he gave me. “Ad agencies are pass,” he said. Instead, he was starting a “new media” company. The notion of leaving a great job at TRH and joining his team was the furthest thing from my mind, yet the crazy guy pitched me so hard I couldn t resist. And he was right. He knew that companies would need a strate- gic partner that could provide creative ideas in all mediaprint, radio, TV, and “that informa- tion superhighway I keep hearing about.” Daner was going to be that partner. We ve had our ups and downs, but it s been an incredibleride. Up from five people to over a hundred, a client list that boasts some of the biggest com- panies in the world. And the best part is, it s just the beginning. Larry is still a tiger, but he s getting a bit tired and wants to golf. I can t blame him for that. It sdefinitely time for him to retire. Lately I could swear he s been doing the nudge-nudge, wink- wink in my direction. George thinks he s in the running too, but I think he ll be cool with re- porting to me. Wonder: Once I m CEO, should I put George in charge of our European expan- sion? A footprint in Europe will make us even more indispensable to our clients. It will ma