Mobilizing our 2,000-person workforce into an army of activists. We set about transforming Banana Republic into a model workplace. Banana Republic is to be transformed, all right. The fall line isn't selling. Catalog and store sales plummet.
Employee morale follows.
As the bottom line bleeds from black to red, Banana's once-absentee corporate parent, The Gap, becomes an angry, punishing tyrant. Mel and Patricia Ziegler are the first to go. Panic-provoking emergency meetings replace creative brainstorming sessions. The bakery that once delivered muffins on Fridays now delivers bon voyage cakes with equal frequency. After sending my boss on a business trip, the new Gap honcho asks if I'd be interested in her job.