Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear
Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear:
Bringing the Executive Team Together
Cameron (Cam) Barker, founder and CEO of Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear, cut
across the parking lot to his car after a long day at company headquarters in Birmingham, England. He
was preoccupied by a phone call earlier that day from a member of his executive team: two members
of the team had failed to cooperate to resolve a simple issue, and the caller had asked him to intervene.
Lately such incidents were all too frequent. Individually, the executives were competent—most had
been at the company for several years and contributed substantially to its growth—but the team’s
dynamics were dysfunctional. Mistrust, lack of communication, and refusal to collaborate were
rampant. Barker was ready to act, but what action should he take? Were the right people in the right
roles? Were the right people even on the team? Was the team appropriately structured and managed?
What changes should Barker make to strengthen the company’s leadership and position it for
continued growth? (See Exhibit 1 for an organizational chart; see Exhibit 2 for profiles of executive-
team members.)
