Question: What should Ali Sloan do? What would you actually do if you were in her place? Explain.

Too Much Intelligence? to lure the account to Pace and away from its top rival, The rapid growth of Pace Technologies was due in no Raleigh-Tech. small part to sales manager Ken Bodine and to the skills of Both Cody and Ali eagerly grabbed the opportunity the savvy young sales staff that he had assembled. Bodine to expand their influence within the company and to build prided himself on finding and hiring top grads from two their reputations. Putting together their presentations major business schools in the area. In addition to the within a short time period meant working long days and top salaries offered by Pace, the grads were attracted by late nights. On the evening before the presentations, Cody Bodine's energy, innovative thinking, and can-do attitude. bounded into Ali's office and dropped a file on her desk. He was the embodiment of Pace culture-moving fast, "Top that!" he said. ahead of the knowledge curve in high-tech. Pace's sales Ali began thumbing through the file, and as she looked force consistently stunned the competition with their high up in startled amazement, Cody slammed his hand on the performance level. folder and jerked it from her desk. Among other things, Pace had the reputation for "That's like a watershed of Raleigh-Tech's trade secrets," aggressive business intelligence. Competitors found both Ali said. "Where did you get that?" amusing and frustrating the company's ability to outma- "My secret, sweetie," Cody replied, taking a seat neuver others and capture accounts. Bodine enjoyed the and noisily drumming his fingers on the folder. "With air of mystery surrounding the Pace organization. Aware- this information, R-T doesn't have a chance. And neither ness that some competitor sat on the verge of a big sale do you." always stirred Bodine's passion for sales and ignited his "You could get into all sorts of trouble," Ali said. "When desire to "one-up these guys" and grab the sale out from you lay that on Bodine's . . ." under them. "Bodine's espionage side will love it," Cody interrupted. "If this was a poker game," one board member mused, "This is classic Bodine, classic Pace. You can't tell me that 'Pace would win every hand. It's like Bodine as well as his with all of the brilliant moves he's made over the years, staff possess the uncanny ability to know the cards your Bodine hasn't done the same thing. This is business, cut- company is holding. He keeps a straight face, a low profile throat business, and I may have just topped the master. See throughout the game, and then suddenly he lays his cards you tomorrow. Activate Won the table and you're sunk. Here at Pace, we all love it." A former military intelligence officer, Bodine brought that "sneaky" air into the Pace culture, adding a bit of excitement to the day-to-day business of sales. "With a great product, great staff, and great business intelligence," Bodine was fond of saying, "you can dominate the market." He wanted everyone-customers, competitors, and the media-to see Pace everywhere. "Every time the compe- tition holds a staff meeting," he said, "the first question should be, 'What's Pace doing?" The sales staff was a mirror image of Bodine-younger, but with the same air of invincibility, and very competitive with one another. This, too, Bodine encouraged. A chess player, he enjoyed observing and encouraging the compe- tition within his own sales staff. And seeing the thrill it brought "the boss," ambitious salespeople worked vigorously to prove their competitive worth. Bodine's latest competitive "match" pitted Cody Rudisell and Ali Sloan in an intellectual and strategic struggle for a coveted assignment to a potential major account with a company that had just expanded into the region. Bodine let it be known that Cody and Ali were being considered for the assignment, and that each could submit a proposalAs he left, Ali sat in stunned silence. "Cutthroat, in- deed," she whispered, reaching for the phone. She held the phone for a moment, wondering who she should call. This is unethical, illegal, she thought. She hung up the phone. Should I let him bang himself tomorrow? What if Bodine re- ally does love it? If I call some manager tonight, will everyone See me as a sore loser and a crybaby? Is this really what it takes to win in the big leagues? Is this really the culture of this organization