Awakening, 2nd edition (11 page)

“Absolutely.”

“Still, I didn ’t say—”

“Fine, you didn ’t, ” broke in Chris. “But you did say it was more important for the company than for you, didn ’t you? So, that ’s where I think it gets complicated. Not even everyone in the trenches would agree with that statement. And these are mostly people who are loyal to their paycheck, not to the company. It ’s not black and white. There ’re things at stake that you ought to care about. Don ’t you agree with that?”

Kevin looked at him somewhat sourly.

“It’s your turn to elaborate.”

“That’s what I ’m doing. Why do you need to deliver on time in the first place? Because you were told to do so. Why where you told to do so? Because the company needs it. Why does the company need it? Because if you deliver your stuff on time , it will make more money. We ’re talking basics here . . .”

“So?”

“So if the company makes more money , you make more money. Especially if you happen to have some stock, not to mention a potential promo tion and a nice bonus when you deliver on time. You do care about meeting deadlines —at least you should , I ’d say, ” Chris tightened his lips, “it ’s about fifty /fifty.”

Kevin smiled back silently, his eyes remaining sour.

“Nice approach, ” said Clark, when it became apparent that Kevin was not about to dignify Chris ’s comment with further responses. “Percentage . . . It ’s a good way to quantify it. More comments, anyone? All right, let ’s have a little exercise then. For this one you will have to work in pairs.”

Paul heaved a sigh.

“Please think of a situation when one of your colleagues did something supposedly in the best interests of the company, but in reality had some ulterior motive. I see some smiles, so I presume it won ’t be difficult for you to come up with some interesting examples. Once you recall all the juicy details , please relay your story to the person sitting on your right. In return, your partner will share with you a case when he or she did something strictly for the company ’s benefit with no personal agenda of any sort. Both of you are welcome to provide your feedback and ask questions. You have fifteen minutes for this exercise. Paul, I see that you don ’t have a partner. I ’ll be happy to keep you company.”

“Do you want to go first?” asked Joan.

“No problem, ” said Alex.

He may not be so dumb after all , she thought, looking at him. From close quarters, you can sense presence of some IQ behind this granite facade. Nevertheless , he doesn ’
t come even close to Chris. Now, there’s someone who has leadership in his blood ; i t ’s written all over him. Clark should ’ve asked us to turn to the neighbors seated on our left. But, on the bright side, it ’s much better than having to deal w ith that Kevin. What a character . . .

Robert entered the bar and stopped at the door, letting his eyes grow accustomed to the dim light. There was definitely something inviting about this place. All the right elements were there: a cozy dark room, glittering ranks of liquor bottles on the shelves behind a polished bar, patches of warm light on the round tables, wine racks along the wooden walls . . . The merry company was already present, occupying three tables pushed together in the middle of the floor. Listening to the sounds coming from that direction it was easy to conclude that yet another level of bonding had been successfully reached .

“Alex!” Joan ’s voice was full of mock concern. “How dare you tell that sort of joke in ladies ’ presence? Haven ’t you noticed that Stella and I are here?”

“Just trying to top Stella ’s story, that ’s all ” answered Alex ’s low baritone without any signs of remorse. “Not sure if I ’m getting there , though —mine are too innocent for that.”

“True,” Alan ’s voice was very supportive. “I ’m still blushing after what she said.”

Robert smiled and went to the bar.

“Right,” Stella ’s sarcastic voice said behind his back. “Look who ’s talking . . .”

“What can I get you?” The bartender ’s manners combined professional confidence with unusual -for -his -occupation politeness. “Your friends over there keep ordering martini s . The drink of the night.”

“Black Russian. Easy on the ice , please.”

The bartender nodded approvingly and reached for the tall clear bottle.

“Slow season?” Robert asked, watching the crystal stream of vodka pouring into the glass.

“Thanks to you folks, ” the bartender responded, lifting the bottle.

“What do you mean?”

“You guys rent out the entire place. Invitation only, I gather.”

He tilted the chocolate bottle of liquor over the glass.

“And how often does it happen?”

“You mean this thing? This is the third time so far. Could ’ve been more often as far as I’m concerned .”

“Why is that? Easy work?”

“It doesn’t get any easier than this . We ’re here for the first day only. Then you guys tell us to get lost for the rest of the week. It ’s like in one of th o se movies. We get paid for having fun for four days. First time I heard it I thought it was a joke.”

He clearly was eager to share his knowledge of the matter.

“The entire staff is out. The only people who get in are our chef and the waiters and even they can go in only once in a while. Last time they were allowed to go in for the second day only, then got kicked out for good.”

“So you get paid your full salary? No catch?”

“No catch, I ’m telling you, man. No catch. They make us sign something, like whatever I hear and see I swear to forget and that ’s it. Not that I ever heard anything here worth repeating. My buddies are drooling for this job.”

“No wonder. Have fun then.”

“I sure will. I ’ve made arrangements.” The bartender winked. “You take care.”

Robert accepted a misty cool glass, looked around the bar again and headed for the far corner where Clark sat in the company of Ed.

Ed, an open notebook in his hands , was briefing his boss on some subject. Clark listened to him attentively, but kept glancing from time to time at the jolly company.

“May I?”

“Most definitely, ” Clark gestured at the free chair with a welcoming smile.

Ed nodded and, smiling at Robert, softly closed the notebook.

“Boring,” said Robert, lowering himself into the chair.

“Boring?” Clark questioned .

“Vivid. Entertaining. Unusual. But boring. Too much ado.”

A puzzled expression appeared on Ed’s face.

“I assume our guest is referring to Much Ado about Nothing ,” Clark explained.

“Precisely,” Robert slowly sipped at this glass. “You sure you want to listen to this now?”

“But of course, ” Clark smiled again. “This is called constructive customer feedback. It ’s an opportunity for improvement. Don ’t deprive us of it.”

“Then get ready to listen to your customer. Your customer is disappointed. What have you taught us today? A collection of facts I can easily find in a couple of psychology textbooks . A few points on management theory . Some excerpts from a typical MBA curriculum. A couple of historical anecdotes. That was probably the most useful part. The story about Morgan was particularly entertaining—I didn ’t know he did that sort of thing. But that was it. Short of that story, I didn’t hear anything worth memorizing. You spent the rest of the time praising us to the skies and trying for some reason to shock us with allegedly brutally honest statements.”

“Why
allegedly ?
” Clark asked curiously.

“Because there was nothing brutally honest about them. At the end of the day, what have you told me? That I like to be in control of my environment and want to succeed? As you can guess, I was well aware of this before coming here. That my management values me and is wagering on me? Glad to hear that but , still, hardly an epiphany. That I work for myself and not for my employer? More old news, although you worked hard to make us all say it out loud. What else? That the closer you get to the top , the worse the power struggles? Sorry to break this one to you, but you ’re late in telling me this by about seven to eight years. I ’ve been a manager long enough to know how things are done. So what ’s the point? Is it just the fact that people don ’t usually mention things like this in management classes?”

“Why not?” Clark responded.

“For starters, there ’re many common -knowledge subjects that normal people don ’t discuss in public. And talking about them doesn ’t change anything. This works wonders for trash TV shows, but what does it have to do with a management class?”

“There’re things that people don ’t discuss on TV, no matter how scandalous a show is. I ’m willing to bet that up until now , no one had ever told you what you ’ve heard today in our class.”

“True,” Robert agreed easily. “So what? What if I told you that you ’d like to have sex with her, ” he motioned his head negligently towards laughing Joan. “It ’s true, isn ’t it? And no one had ever told you this to your face. So, did it help you somehow to hear that from me?”

Clark smiled, looking at Joan.

“Suppose you ’re right about this. Although you can ’t be certain—you simply don ’t have enough information.”

“Fine, let’s say you ’re not interested. But Ed is , for sure. Today he couldn ’t help but stare. Ed, you ’re interested, aren ’t you?”

Ed grunted vaguely and stretched his lips in a confused smile. It was obvious that he would welcome a change of subject.

“See,” Robert sipped at his glass again. “Truth to your face. So what?”

Clark ignored his assistant’s embarrassment.

“That’s a nice example, but it ’s hardly convincing. By the same token you could ’ve referred to some physiological needs.”

“Or to the lust for power.”

“Or to the lust for power. What exactly did you expect? An enlightenment? This is business training, not a new-age spirituality seminar.”

“I beg your pardon, ” Robert objected. “I wouldn ’t have expected more than I got so far had it been regular business training. Heck, I would ’ve found today ’s lecture a decent use of my time. It ’s you who ’s been raising our expectations sky -high, hinting all day long that there ’s more to it than meets the eye. But so far I haven ’t seen anything that would support your claims. And the theory part is already over.”

“I take it you like Shakespeare?” asked Clark , with no obvious connection to Robert ’s words.

“Not really. Let ’s say I ’m aware of his works.”

“But you do know something about drama?”

“Now you sound like the TNT tagline, but yes. Something. Not much.”

“Then you probably know that you can ’t have a good play without setting the stage for it.”

“Does this make you, ” Robert said slowly, “the play director then?”

“In a way. But only to some extent.”

“You know what they say about directors in life?”

“No, what’s that?”

“God may be the producer of the Life show, but guess who often gets the director ’s seat?”

Clark smiled.

“That’s hardly flattering.”

“Yeah, flattery is not my strong suit, ” agreed Robert. “So the drama is about to begin tomorrow?”

“The group exercise is about to begin tomorrow.”

Robert nodded and rose to his feet.

“Nice chatting with you. You realize of course that you ’re doing it again?”

Clark raised his eyebrows in question.

“Doing
it ?
”

“Implying there ’s something bigger.”

“That’s part of my job, ” Clark said with a polite smile.