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04Precedent · how it went for them

The situation“I'm behind and I have to decide what to drop.”

Leaders who made the same call — what each did, and how it went.

WorkedHalf-worked

Worked · Anne Mulcahy, Xerox, 2001–2006

When Anne Mulcahy became CEO of Xerox in August 2001, the company was over $17 billion in debt, in its sixth consecutive year of losses, under SEC investigation for accounting irregularities, and being advised by external bankers to file Chapter 11.

Worked · Marvel Entertainment, 1996–1998

Marvel filed for bankruptcy in late 1996, carrying roughly 250 million dollars of debt, with its comic sales collapsing and its stock trading below a dollar.

Half-worked · Justin Kan, Exec, 2012

Exec launched as an on-demand errand-running service.