It's Not Luck (8 page)

Julie and Sharon are talking about something. Dave and I continue to eat in silence. No, it’s not okay. The negative effect that caused me to hesitate in the first place is now reality. Dave is frowning, he’s hurt, but worst of all he is convinced that it’s impossible to communicate with me. Teen-agers.

Teen-agers.

“You said that you will pay for your own gas and take the car in for the check-up?” I finally say.

Dave raises his eyes from his plate and looks at me.

“Yes, that’s right,” he says tentatively. And then, picking up steam, he continues, “And during that week, whenever Mom has to drive Sharon, I’ll do it instead.”

“Smart move,” I laugh. “Continue in this way, Dave, maneuvering your mother and sister to your side, and I’m pushed into a corner.”

“That’s not what I meant.” He’s blushing.

“Wait a minute.” Sharon is not a girl to overlook such an opportunity. It doesn’t take long, and Sharon summarizes: “Hooray, wait until I tell Debbie, she won’t believe it.”

“Neither do I,” Dave cools her down. “Dad hasn’t yet agreed to give me his car.”

“Daddy, please, pretty please?” Sharon does what Dave expects her to.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“But you promised to think about it,” Dave moans.

“Yes, I did.”

“And . . . ”

“And I have some open concerns.”

“Yeah, sure.” Dave is visibly irritated.

“Son,” I say in a firm voice, “I promised to think about it, and I did think about it. Not surprisingly I have some concerns. If you put my mind to rest about them, you can use my car while I’m in Europe. Ignore them, as if they are my problems and not yours, and I’ll refuse you pointblank. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Dad,” he quiets down. “What are the problems?”

“Let me show you,” I answer, and go to the study to get my papers. Returning, I hand him the first page. “To the list of positives here I have to add another one,” I say. “Your promise to be the chauffeur for your sister.”

“Not exactly what I would call positive,” he mutters, and then he reads aloud the last point: “‘Strengthening the trust between me and my son.’ ” He thinks for a second, and then says, “That means that whatever I promise, I’ll have to make bloody sure I deliver.” With a sigh he concludes, “What’s fair is fair. Okay Dad, what are the problems?”

“The first one, I think, is already solved. Nevertheless, let’s go over it. I’m going to Europe exactly when you have your spring break, and we all know that you want to tour Mexico . . . . ”

“Daddy, don’t worry about Mexico,” Sharon immediately interrupts, “Dave promised to drive me every day, and trust me, I’m not going to let him off the hook.”

“I had hoped that we could strike a deal,” Dave says. “But, okay Dad, no long journeys. Promise.”

Relaxed, I turn to the next page. “You read,” I say to Dave. “Start from the statements at the bottom.”

“ ‘When I’m away,’ ” he starts reading, “ ‘the car is at your disposal.’ ”

Puzzled, Sharon asks, “Does that mean Daddy’s decided to give you the car?”

“I wish,” he says, “but unfortunately it only means that he is trying to figure out what will be the negative outcomes if he does.”

“Ah.”

“Carry on,” I encourage him.

“ ‘I’m away for a lengthy period of time,’ ” Dave continues to read, and then adds his own interpretation—“one week is not so long.”

“Speak for yourself,” Julie says.

“Okay, Mom, no more of these remarks. I’m now reading the next level: ‘For a lengthy period you can use the car whenever you want.’ ”

“No,” I say. “You are not reading a list of statements, you are reading a logical tree. Read according to the arrows.” And to demonstrate, I point to the first statement and start to read it properly: “ ‘If, when I’m away, the car is at your disposal, and . . .’ ” I shift my finger to the second statement, “and ‘I’m away for a lengthy period,’ then . . . ” and I point to the higher statement, “then ‘for a lengthy period you can use the car whenever you want.’ ”

“Obvious,” is Dave’s only comment.

“Now read the next entry,” I say, and smile at Julie. She smiles back. We both remember what Jonah said: “When the reply is ‘obvious’ or ‘it’s only common sense,’ it means that you are communicating.”

Dave continues to read: “ ‘When people can use something regularly, it becomes a habit—a right.’ ”

“Right?” I ask.

“Yes, that’s usually the case. Now can I read the next level?”

“Yes, but try to read the cause and effect relationship. Use if . . . then . . . ”

“If ‘for a lengthy period of time,’ ” he reads slowly, “ ‘you can use the car whenever you want,’ and ‘when people can use something regularly it becomes a habit—a right,’ then ‘you get used to having the car at your disposal.’ Now I see what you’re concerned about, but . . .”

“Dave,” I interrupt him, “before you start to dismiss it by some rash promises, I’d prefer that you realize how important this concern is. Please read it to the end.”

“Okay, I’m reading. The additional entry first: ‘I don’t want to share my car.’ ”

“Now the unavoidable derivative. If . . . and . . . then . . . please.”

“If ‘you get used to having the car at your disposal,’ ” he reads without much enthusiasm, “and ‘I don’t want to share my car’, then ‘it will be annoying for you to get a “NO” in the future.’ ”

“Correct?” I ask.

“Yes,” he admits, “I can see how it could lead to friction.”

“Well?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” he replies. “Whatever I say now can be interpreted as if I just want to ignore the problem.”

I sure am glad I took the trouble to write it in such detail. I’m about to suggest a resolution when Julie sends me, just in time, a look. I swallow my words, and instead say, “Take your time, Dave. My trip is not until next week.”

Dave gives a convincing demonstration of a fish, opening his mouth to say something and regretting it. At last he says, “Maybe, if I promise not to ask for the Beamer for . . . two months?”

That’s too much. Moreover, I don’t think that Dave could keep such a promise—he’s too much in love with my car.

“Why do you think that would work?” Julie asks him.

“Simple,” Dave answers. “If a week is enough to get spoiled, then two months must be enough to reverse it.”

“What do you say?” Julie asks me.

“I say that two months is too long, one month will be sufficient.”

Julie is working on her files, constructing trees to better understand and solve her clients’ problems. In this way she can restore shaky bonds in three or four meetings rather than allowing problems to flounder for months on end. When I mention that she is getting paid by the hour and not by results, she just laughs and points to her long waiting list.

She is very involved in her work but it doesn’t put her under stress. You always find her busy but never without time.

I like these peaceful nights, when Julie murmurs over her cases while I try to catch up on my paperwork. In the background Simon and Garfunkel are telling us once again their problems with Cecilia. The kids are in their rooms, probably fast asleep.

“I’m happy with the way you handled Dave,” Julie smiles at me.

“Back at UniCo, we called it ‘Buying industrial peace,’ ” I smile back.

“What do you mean?” she is puzzled.

“Julie,” I try to explain, “don’t get me wrong. I’m at peace with my decision, but frankly, look objectively at what happened: Dave asked for my car, I gave him the car, end of story.”

“Darling, do you really feel badly about your decision?” she softly inquires.

“No, not at all. I feel good about it.”

She kisses me on the cheek. “Then saying that what happened is just that Dave got what he asked for is, at best, a partial description.”

I think about it. It’s not that I didn’t want my son to get what he so badly wants. It’s that I didn’t want some other interrelated things to happen, like Dave feeling that he is entitled to my car. The way we’ve arranged it now, I’m certain that will not happen. Also, some good side benefits emerged. Julie will have fewer demands on her time, and Sharon, rather than being envious, is all for the idea.

“You’re right,” I hug her. “Who would have imagined that Dave would agree not to ask for the car for even two weeks! You know, Jonah’s advice of just clearly presenting the negative branch without trying to suggest a solution is right on the mark. If I had suggested it, he would have treated my suggestion as an insulting unfair demand, at best.”

Smiling, Julie nods her head in agreement. “Jonah’s methods do work. They always lead to win-win solutions.”

“I wish I had your confidence,” I say quietly. “Julie, I’ve so many important clouds now at work . . . . I’m skeptical if there is any good win-win solution for even one of them.”

“Tell me more,” she says, in the same quiet voice.

I don’t know what to say. There is no point in whining about my personal cloud. It will just upset Julie and put me in a devastating, self-pitying mood.

“Have you figured out how to protect your companies?” she asks.

“Not really,” I sigh. I tell her about the “plan” that was discussed today with Stacey and Bob. “It’s really grasping at straws,” I conclude.

“Why?”

“Julie, what do you think is the chance of finding a marketing breakthrough that will enable us to jump sales within a few months?”

“Such things do happen,” she tries to cheer me up.

“Yes,” I admit, “rarely. But we have to do it without new products and without any advertising budget to speak of.” After a pause, I add, “And we don’t need just one such miraculous solution. We need three of them. It’s totally impossible.”

“No, it’s not totally impossible,” she firmly says. “It may be difficult, but not impossible.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Alex, listen to me. Jonah taught us his method especially for such situations—where it seems that there is no way out; when it seems that the only thing left is to give up.

“Honey,” she keeps on, “I know what I’m talking about. Almost every week I face such situations.”

“I haven’t noticed.” I raise my eyebrows to indicate the extent to which she is exaggerating.

“No, not personally, silly. I’m talking about my clients. Some of them have brought their marriage to such an impasse that it really seems beyond repair.” And then, in a thoughtful voice she says, “You know the difference between us? You almost never use Jonah’s methods.”

I start to protest, but she continues, “Yes, I know that you use parts of them daily—in negotiations, in team building, even when you need to plan an important meeting. But Alex, when is the last time that you tried to use them in full? To analyze a tough situation and construct a win-win solution that will turn it around?”

I want to say that I did it just last month, on the distribution problem. But I didn’t do it. It was Bob Donovan and his people.

“In my work,” she continues to hammer, “I’m constantly facing new situations; I have to constantly use all the Thinking Processes. No wonder that I’m confident about the results of using them. It’s tough. It requires a lot of hard work, but it’s working. You know it.”

When she realizes that I don’t intend to reply, she lays it on me. “Alex, you are living off the generic solutions that you developed in the past. You cannot afford it anymore. You must develop a solution to your current situation.”

“What do you mean?” I’m irritated. “You think that I can develop a generic process to find marketing solutions?!”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

I don’t bother to answer.

9

“I think we found a way to make the wrapper department even more profitable than the box department.” Pete is excited, and so am I.

Last year, the wrapper department caused four million dollars in losses, reducing the overall profit of the company to less than one million dollars. If Pete is right, if he found a marketing breakthrough that turns the wrappers into being as profitable as the rest of the business, then. . . . Jesus, if they just break even the profit will be five million dollars!