Stage 4 begins when an organization reacts to a downturn by lurching for a silver bullet. This can take a wide range of possible forms, such as betting big on an unproven technology, pinning hopes on an untested strategy, relying upon the success of a splashy new product, seeking a “game changing” acquisition, gambling on an image makeover, hiring consultants who promise salvation, seeking a savior CEO, expounding the rhetoric of “revolution,” or in its very late stages, grasping for a financial rescue or buyout. The key point is that they go for a quick, big solution or bold stroke to jump-start a recovery, rather than embark on the more pedestrian, arduous process of rebuilding long-term momentum. The HP board, for instance, continued to exemplify Stage 4 behavior in how it argued for the controversial $24 billion merger with Compaq Computer Corporation in 2002, with dramatic, we-can-change-everything-with-onebig-sweeping-action rhetoric: the “best and fastest way to increase the value” . . . “in one move, we dramatically improve” . . . “we immediately double” . . . “enable us to quickly address” . . . “in a single strategic move” .