Board Member, Consumer Goods, Chicago

I sit on the Advisory board of a large multinational Consumer goods company.
Originally family owned, nine years ago we hired an outside C.E.O. with impeccable credentials. His brief was to take us to the next level and grow the company Internationally.

During his first few years he succeeded in developing our distribution network and opened production facilities in Europe. Featured prominently in the business press, he raised our profile and was considered a complete success.

Three years ago his performance began to suffer.

It happened slowly at first and didn’t cause too much concern but soon it became apparent that there was a real problem.
He always had seemingly valid reasons why quarterly figures were down, labor disputes, production or supplier problems.

Eventually his Executive Assistant, who’d worked with him for over fifteen years, approached me and confessed that she’d been covering for him for a long time and that he was using meth-amphetamine, and that she couldn’t hide it any longer. She was concerned for his health and knew the company was suffering as a result of his addiction.

What had started as recreational drug use had spiraled out of control as the pressures of work increased.

We were referred to the Alpha Intervention team and initially decided that we didn’t need such a lengthy program. We thought that if he just went to rehab for 28 days he’d be fine, he could “shake it off”.

He returned to work having completed treatment.

A few weeks later during his Keynote speech at our annual shareholders meeting he seemed disoriented and without completing his speech he simply walked off the stage. Having to let him go and find his replacement was time consuming, costly and affected the morale of all the senior members of the company.

The collateral damage was devastating to our reputation and credibility.

We hired the Alpha Intervention team to help us develop a Workplace Assistance program for Executives. Discreet and confidential it’s proven to be an effective way of catching any problems early.

Since we instituted the program two years, two of our senior Executives and a Board member have come forward, completed residential treatment and taken part in the yearlong aftercare

They all still work for the company in their former positions. Their addiction and recovery haven’t affected their careers negatively in any way.

Board Member, Chicago

January 2008