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Baxter is the marketing and sales director of Train and Subway Interiors, a niche company that makes interiors for railroad and subway cars. The interior components include ceilings, overhead storage compartments, holding bars, and kitchenettes. As the demand for public transportation has increased, so has the business of Train and Subway Interiors.

Baxter attributes much of the sales growth of Train and Subway Interiors to his magnetic personality, and the way in which he has inspired the four sales representatives on his team. Baxter says, “I’m a positive thinker. I know that we can win together. I smile at everybody, and my customers love me. I’m good, my sales staff is good, and we all know it. The competition is jealous.”

Baxter decorates his office to project his personal pride. An 8×10 photo shows him front and center on his college football team. Another photo shows him shaking hands with the U.S. Transportation secretary. A large cabinet is filled with sales trophies and employee- of-the-month plaques Baxter has won at various employers. Another photo shows Baxter smiling in front of an Amtrak high-speed train. The landscape on Baxter’s laptop consists of a photo of Baxter seated between two Labrador retrievers.

Phil, the head if engineering at Train and Subway, made this comment about Baxter as the head of marketing and sales:

A lot of people go for Baxter’s hype and bravado. He shakes a lot of hands, gives lots of pep talks, and smiles most of the time. But what Baxter doesn’t realize is that without our design and engineering, he and his team would have nothing to sell. He tells me, of course, that without his great marketing and sales skills, the company would have nothing but scrap.

Francesca, the head of HR and administration, had collected some feedback about Baxter’s approach to leadership from his subordinates, colleagues, and customers. She commented that Baxter is well liked and charming. He is great at entertaining railway train and subway manufacturing executives, both from the United States and other companies. Yet a lot of people are tired of his bragging and self-congratulations. He talks about being the driving force behind this business, even though Train and Subway Interiors has existed for over fifty years. A clerk said that “Baxter makes more use of mirrors that anybody she knows.”

Megan, a sales representative who left the company to take a sales position with a steel company, made this comment about Baxter: “I liked most of the marketing strategy Baxter developed for the company. He also has a warm personality. Yet, I couldn’t take the way he never really listened to me. When I began talking about a tough sales problem I was facing, Baxter would start talking about his self and the sales challenges he had conquered. If Baxter dropped by my work area in the office, he would begin by describing in great detail what his beloved Labradors did recently.”

Questions

1)What hints do you get from this case that Baxter is charismatic?

2)What hints do you get from this case that Baxter is narcissistic?

3)What suggestions can you offer Baxter so he can make more effective use of his charisma?