ROSETTA STONE: LEADER IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Overview

Rosetta Stone is one of the nations most recognized names in the United States but were not utilizing the technology of the 21^st century. As Rosetta Stone built a solid reputation over the years, its distribution system grew seriously outdated. The company continued to rely on CDs long after the rest of the world turned to the Internet to reach customers.

Rosetta Stone executives knew they needed a leader who could bring them up to date and hired Matt Hulett, a successful entrepreneur who later became famous as a turnaround expert. Matts job is to create a vision and motivate the employees to embrace the vision. While working at an online entertainment start-up in the days before YouTube, Hulett discovered that many of his creative colleagues knew little about business and management. Thats when he started to learn all he could about capital, strategy, and how to apply proper leadership direction. These skills made him the perfect person to become Rosetta Stones new president of language.

In order to shift focus, he employed a three-step process that helped him make big changes such as committing enough resources to the companys largest potential market - individual consumers.

Discussion questions and answers

1. Describe the process that Matt Hulett employed to turn around Rosetta Stone. Do you think a similar management strategy would work at other companies?

2. Why didnt Matt Hulett bring in his own team of employees with him to Rosetta Stone?

3. Why is it important for managers to keep their employees motivated and satisfied with their work?