Critical Path

　　When David Hayden realised his company was heading for trouble, he took drastic measures to get it back on track

　　David Hayden founded his company, Critical Path, an email provider, in 1997 to take advantage of the boom in email traffic. Critical Path became a public company two years later, and Hayden took the opportunity to step down from his executive position in order to work on personal projects. At the same time, he agreed to stay with the company as Chairman, but the business was put in the hands of new managers by its investors. With sector-leading products and an expanding market, the company seemed to 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 to a mere 24 cents.

　　Called in by a 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 the company and did not know what was going to happen to them. And, as Hayden discovered, the management team was incompetent. Those guys didn’t understand the product or the sector, says Hayden. The heads of department didn’t communicate and they didn’t lead.’ But what was worse, Critical Path had lost the goodwill of its investors.

　　Hayden knew that bringing the figures under control would be a vital step in the company’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 they were angry with the company, they didn’t have bad feelings about me. I told them that I knew I could get the company on its feet again.’ He was authorised to make whatever changes were required, and his first act was to find people within the company he could trust and put them in charge.

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