Alex Montana at ESH Manufacturing Co.

Alex Montana sat at his desk pondering the career decision before him. Alex was director of the North American division of ESH Manufacturing, a $4.6 billion, Cleveland-based company with operations on three continents. ESH's CEO had just offered Montana a promotion to global vice-president. Normally, Montana would have jumped at such an opportunity, but he worried about its impact on his already strained personal life. Since his last promotion, he had trouble balancing an increasingly demanding workload with his responsibilities to his wife and daughter at home. Montana felt pressure to accept the promotion. His boss expected him to accept; in fact, his boss had emphasized that he had no second choice. He had always dreamed of making it big in the business world. Success in this new role could put him in the running for COO and, eventually, CEO. But at what cost?