ad handed out huge stock options upon his arrival to Sunbeam, making them millionaires almost immediately. These options, in a way, widened Dunlop’s employees’ zone of indifference, pushing themselves to do things beyond standard corporate culture and their own set of morals. Dunlap has always had a way of making his employees feel guilty for not meeting his demands. One employee recalled him saying, “You are being paid to work here, and you can become rich because I’ve given you all these options. And you’re letting me down. I’m working hard for you on the Street, and you’re letting me down” (Byrne 138). Dunlap basically did not work with a group or team to help him on nonprogrammable decisions that were critical in the company’s success. But he did have a right hand man, Russell Kursh, who was the Chief Financial Officer who had major control over the accounting books making it easy to alter them. Eventually, bad decisions and terrible sales also finally caught up to Dunlop who seemed to have an unwavering and unconquerable conscience. “The day to day atmosphere at the company has really deteriorated. Al is no longer in touch with the business and what’s going on at the company. Al isn’t talking to people. He has cut himself off,” said Fannin, Sunbeam’s general counsel (Byrne 128). Around mid-June, the board Dunlap carefully selected himself decided to give him a taste of his own medicine, asking him to leave, believing he was guilty of hiding the true condition of the company. The stock price explains the highly intense roller coaster ride while it landed at 8 13/16 the day Dunlap was fired, lower than the level it traded when Sunbeam announced Dunlap’s hiring(mid-1996), compared to a high of 52 in early March 1998. Great leaders lead their troops with a charisma that have his employees want to follow him into battle and die under ...
