Jim Serra, vice president of engineering for Hunter Peripherals, sighed heavily as he watched the early morning traffic on Highway 237. Outside his office window, thousands of cars rushed by each day, past the Intel, Acer, and other high-tech billboards, symbolizing Silicon Valley’s continual fast pace. Jim had always taken Hunter’s frenetic environment for granted—had thrived on it, in fact, as had his senior managers. But the competitive pace now left him with a dilemma: Should he promote one of those managers to a crucial new director’s position?
A version of this article appeared in the January–February 1994 issue of Harvard Business Review.
