How Coca-Cola Got Its Fizz Back

Once the world’s most admired company, Coca-Cola went as flat as last night’s glass of soda as the new century began. Called from retirement, Neville Isdell drew the short straw to direct a comeback. How he did it makes an inspiring story and holds lessons for any company in need of a turnaround, beginning with shock therapy. It was an offer most people would have been able to refuse. In 2004, Neville Isdell was in his third year of retirement, happily golfing in Barbados, indulging his love of wildlife photography, and running a small investment fund. Now his old company, Coca-Cola, wanted him to come back and take charge. But the corporation was floundering. U.S. and European sales were tailing off, the stock was plunging, and executives were quitting in a hailstorm of negative press, failed product launches, environmental scandals, and even a race discrimination lawsuit. Isdell had been in the running to succeed the legendary Roberto Goizueta as Coke’s CEO when Goizueta died unexpectedly in 1997. But this time he wasn’t even third choice; several high-profile candidates had turned down the job. What’s more, his wife, Pamela, wanted no part of a return to the business wars. New Word City, publishers of digital originals, contributes 10 percent of its profits to literacy causes.