商务英语中级阅读汇总.doc

Critical Path When David Hayden realised pany was heading for trouble, he took drastic m easures to get it back on track David Hayden founded pany, Critical Path, an email provider, in 1997 to take advantage of the boom in email traffic. Critical Path became a pany two year s later, and Hayden took the opportunity step down from his executive position in order to work on personal projects. At the same time, he agreed to stay with pany as Chairman, but the business was put in the hands of new managers by it s investors. With sector-leading products and an expanding market, pany seemed t o be on the up and up. However, by early 2001, it was in trouble. Shares that had been worth $26 in 1999, when they were first sold, were down toa mere 24 cents. Called in bya panicking board, Hayden found himself back in charge as Executive Chairman, trying desperately to rescue what he could. The 1,100 staff had lost confidence in pany and did not know what was going to happen to them. And, as Hayden discovered, the management team was petent. e guys didn't unde rstand the product or the sector,' says Hayden. The heads of department didn'municat e and they didn't lead.' But what was worse, Critical Path had lost the goodwill of its inv estors. Hayden knew that bringing the figures under control would bea vital step in the co mpany's turnaround. 'You've got to sort out the finances. For me, that meant getting back the goodwill of the investors. That was tough, after what had happened. But although th ey were angry with pany, they didn't have bad feelings about me. I told them tha tI knew I could get pany on its feet again.' He was authorised to make whatever changes were required, and his first act was to find people within pany he could trust and put them in charge. The next thing Hayden had to tackle was morale. 'Everyone left the office at five on the dot - they couldn't get away quickly enough. To get the buzz back and win the staff over, I had to prove my mitment and put in the