- MANAGEMENT DIFFICUlT OEClSIONS
In Ma rch, Jackson was found guilty and lefr the firm,
taking the decision away from Golden. But Go[den had
learned somerhing imporrant: "When you are young,
things scem dearly black or white. As you get older, you
sec things in shades oe grey. Bur in decisions like this,
YOll cannot afford to see the grey."2 _ Th e firm you started with a friend i s i n
f inancial trouble_ She no longer believes that
the busin ess has a future_ Is s he right?a business. Ir was not yet making money, and (hey had
three small children to support.
Camplin was in a dilemma. Was Smith right? Was it
a ~ business? " I didn'r know at chis point,'" she
says. After momhs of ar;O!ljl.jOl~, she decided tO t rust her
instincts that the ee ntre could work and buy Smith out.
The result was a te rr ible Icial fiiht, in whic h Smith's fa-
ther tried to get as much money from Camplin as pos-
sible. " He was a hWly, just like my father had been. So
dcaling wirh hirn was a huge .t.r.i.ü.u. for mc," she says.
Her energy was low at <1 time when bath her dienrs
~--ir.;;;;:r.;;;;;;;;;;;;;;::;;;:--, and her children needed her. The fight was becom-
ing traumaric. She was a lso worried she would not
be able to run the business on her own. "Wirhout
Mary, I would havc to do everything: see dients,
teach the courses, run the business and deal with
the bank. One Saturday, as I deaned the toilets
myself, I thought: 'Am 1 erazy?'"I cleaned the toilets
myself. I thought-
'Am I crazy?'"
Jenni Camplin, head of The Centre for
Counselhn& in Bromley, south-east EnglandIn the end, it was th e right dccision. Tbc centre,
which now has 16 eounsellors, has been a grcat
suceess. And owning the building means that,
when Camplin stopS working, she will get a n in-
Jenni Camplin, a psychorberapjst who owns a suc-
ccssful counselling ce ntre, now has trust in her abilities
to manage a business. Bur 13 ycars ago, when the cen-
tre was struggling, she had a hard job bclicving she
could make a success of it.
Ir began as a dream in 1997. Camp!in a nd a coHeague,
Ma ry Smith (name changed), decided tO starr their own
counselling centre. Bath had jobs, Smith in pub[ic rela-
tions and Camplin teac hing couosellors at the local co[-
lege. They fouod a building that was for sa!e and de-
cided to buy it for the centre. CampIin let Smith,
who was more business-mjnded, deal with finances
and with the administrative side o f the projecr.
"That was amistake," she says.eomc from the flats. "What I Icarned from chis is tO bc-
lieve in myself, .. says Camplin. "If you da that - and
if you havc determination - you ean suceeed at what-
ever you do."3 _ You have invested your heart and soul in
your job, but your bosses don't like you r
ideas. 00 you sacrifice your management
convictions and remain in the job?'In a difflcult
situation like this.
there is neve~jus one decision"
After a year and a half, things srarred to go
wrong. Smith's marriage broke up, she lost enthu-
siasm for th e job and she increasingly ne~leqed
the finances. These were early days, and the busi-
ness was not making money. "We only had two
counsellors. I was running courses but not getting
paid for them," says CampIin. They had also
made some bad financial decisions, including not r---'-
having organizcd enough finances ro keep thePierre Casse is the author of several books
on intercultural communicahon, an
associa\e DrofeJsor tor leadership at lhe
Kellogg School ot Management in Chicago.
IlUnois, a dun emeritus of the Berlin
School of Creative leadership and a former
project going. World Bank staH-deYtloDment officer.
Smith's father, w ho had helped to rcnovate the
centre, offered to salve their money problems by
buying the freebold of the building. " Ir so unded [ike a
good idea, bur he offered a rjdjculously small amount.
T he frcchold was our most valuable llit[, so I refused."
But Smith pur Camplin under huge pressure to seil. "She
said the centre would never succecd and that it would
juSt COSt money, which we would never get out again, "
says Camplin.
At th e time, Camplin was under a great deal of stress.
Her husband, who once had a top position in a large
company, had recently [osr his job and had also started
58 BusinessSpoilight
Pierre Casse is an internationally respected leadersh ip
professor and author who has taught ac many major
business schools. In the 1980s, he had a secure job ar
the World Ba nk. His wife a nd three teenagers were hap-
py living in Washington, Oe. Casse's large salary was
tax-free, and he gOt to travel round th e world in great
comfort meeting interesring pcople. The problem was,
hc says, [hat he was more enrhusiastic about his job
th a n the large and bureauc[>lrjc bank was ready for. He
had starred management training at the bank and had4/2010