What's In The Cards For Harvey Golub?

The scene was the cafeteria at American Express Co.'s headquarters in Manhattan's glittering World Financial Center in late April. Hundreds of employees of AmEx' flagship card unit, American Express Travel Related Services Co., had gathered expectantly for a quarterly update and the chance to see their new boss up close. Harvey Golub, AmEx' president and CEO of TRS, told a few jokes and explained his five-point strategy for attacking TRS's problems. Then he made a suprisingly frank admission. "What would TRS look like when we've been successful?" Golub asked employees. "I would like a reasonably crisp definition of that vision. That is a task undone."

The meeting is vintage Golub. For years, AmEx has been unable to face up to its rapidly escalating problems. With a combination of bluntness and humor, Golub is trying to jolt employees out of their complacency and rally them to the daunting task of fixing what is the heart and soul of American Express: its card business. The AmEx card is under siege from lower-priced bankcards, restless merchants, and defecting customers. Between 1987 and 1991, its worldwide market share has dropped from 20.3% to 14.5%, says the Nilson Report, while Visa's has grown from 44.7% to 51.0%.