The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers by James M. Citrin

Author:James M. Citrin [Citrin, James M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781400051359
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2003-08-05T04:00:00+00:00

MAKING THE COMPLEX SIMPLE

On June 3, 2002, Greg Brenneman became CEO and president of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting (PwC Consulting). Due to the SEC requirement that accounting firms such as PwC separate their consulting businesses to eliminate conflicts of interest, PwC Consulting recruited Brenneman to lead a spin-off of the firm. In only a few short months, Brenneman put in place a plan to restructure the business, brought in a new management team, and prepared for an IPO with credible financial projections and operating plans reviewed by several of Wall Street’s top financial analysts. In the face of a very difficult business environment with revenues declining across the entire industry, he quickly focused the organization and was able to increase profits 80 percent. The efforts led to a strategic sale to industry leader IBM for $3.5 billion, a significant premium over the anticipated IPO value. The merger of IBM Global Services and PwC Consulting created the largest IT services business in the world, with over $100 billion in revenues, and resulted in a more attractive career path for the partners and staff of PwC Consulting. In October 2002, Brenneman returned to his firm, TurnWorks, Inc., a Houston-based private equity firm that focuses on corporate turnarounds. Brenneman’s story of squeezing the equivalent of years of work into mere months at PwC Consulting, quickly bringing focus to a complex, global organization, is an extraordinary example of implementing the 20/80 principle of performance.

Brenneman had earned his stripes and a national reputation as an extraordinary business executive by co-leading one of the most dramatic and successful corporate turnarounds in American business history. From May 1995 to May 2001, Brenneman was president and chief operating officer of Continental Airlines, and together with chairman and chief executive officer Gordon Bethune, Brenneman led the airline back from the brink of what would have been an unprecedented third bankruptcy to a position of market leadership. During his tenure, the carrier turned sixteen years of losses into twenty-four straight profitable quarters, lifting the stock price from $6.25 per share to over $120 (pre-split). Continental also turned an operation that consistently ranked last in Department of Transportation measures of on-time performance, baggage handling, and customer complaints into the most consistent, reliable carrier in the United States. Under Brenneman’s leadership, Continental earned numerous awards, including the J. D. Power and Associates award as the best airline for four out of five years and the Freddie Award for the best frequent flyer program for four years in a row. In addition, Continental went from being one of the least admired companies in the United States, ranking 499th out of 500 on Fortune’s list of the most admired companies, to being ranked as one of the 100 best companies to work for by Fortune in 1999, 2000, and 2001.7 The carrier finished eighteenth on the list in Brenneman’s final year.

Brenneman went to Continental from the consulting firm Bain & Company at the tender age of thirty-three, but already he had been the youngest vice president

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