Case Study: What's the Right Career Move After a Public Failure?

“Reunions are for happy people,” Mariani Kallis said to her friend Whitney on the phone. “I’m not going.” “Come on, it won’t be the same without you,” Whitney pleaded. “Besides, no one is happy right now. Everyone’s life is a mess.” “I’m pretty sure none of our other classmates was asked to step down from their CEO job last month,” Mariani said wryly. Whitney laughed. The two had been close friends since they met their first year at Columbia Business School. They texted pretty much every day, but Whitney had called to make a case for why her friend should fly up to New York City from Atlanta, where she lived with her husband and teenage daughter, to attend their 25th reunion. Mariani wasn’t in the mood to be convinced. She dreaded having to explain her unceremonious exit from what she thought was her dream job: CEO of Acid Fitness. When she’d been offered the chance to lead a chain of gyms that focused on high intensity interval training and the mental health benefits of exercise, she’d jumped at the opportunity. Since graduating from business school, Mariani had held marketing and leadership positions at major sports and fitness companies and had gained a reputation for taking on big challenges and succeeding. The top job at Acid Fitness seemed like the natural next step.