Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Selling the Dream

IN THE FAST LANE
On a bright January 1998 morning, Dean Pittman, Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s area rental manager for Durham/Chapel Hill, North Carolina, got out of his Dodge Intrepid at Enterprise’s new office in Durham. He admired the line of clean cars and the new office with its green and white Enterprise sign. To Dean, it seemed that dreams really did come true.

A little over six years ago, Dean had graduated with a degree in industrial relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When he’d first scheduled a job interview with Enterprise, Dean had been skeptical. Although he didn’t know much about the company, he wasn’t certain that he’d like renting cars for a living or working a retail job that included washing cars. But he’d seen the potential to advance quickly, to develop strong management skills, and to learn something about running a business.

Once hired, Dean had been promoted quickly to management assistant, then to branch manager a...