Description: There’s an excellent Japanese restaurant in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. The place has been around for years and still draws a crowd, a trendy mix of tattooed hipsters and business-casual professionals. Black-clad waiters with spiky hair shuttle plates of sashimi, which is pricey but worth it, judging from the reviews on Yelp. On weekend nights, customers might be directed to their tables by the most absurdly overqualified maitre d’ on earth: Andrew Mason, who is also the chief executive officer and founder of Groupon (GRPN).

Source: Businessweek.com

Date: July 12, 2012

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-12/the-education-of-groupon-ceo-andrew-mason

Questions for Discussions:

• What are the managerial lessons being learned?
• Could problems have been avoided?
• Is this a leadership story?
• Do you believe the company can rebound?