“Now, I throw the meeting open to questions and discussion.”
Graves looked around the table.
Cheryl Tomkins raised her hand.
Graves nodded for her to proceed.
“How many cases have you successfully completed?” she asked cautiously.
“I can’t be certain of the exact number. I’d say in the neighbourhood of fifty,” St. James offered.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “I don’t expect you to be exact. Which would you say was the most difficult?”
St. James thought for a moment.
“I would have to say the Texas Airport Authority case.”
“Could you tell us a little about that, just the highlights I mean?”
St. James smiled. “Sure. The Authority engaged me to investigate why it was losing money when airside traffic was up 20% from five years earlier, a time when it was making substantial profit. Street-side business was up 50% over the same period. The Authority was aggressively following a strategy to reduce economic dependence on airline fees. It couldn’t understand why there were losses amid such growth. And management failed to ease their concerns.
“Six months later, after considerable investigation, a number of dead ends, FBI involvement, and four attempts on my life, we arrested an employee ring who were using an elaborate computer scheme to siphon cash.”
“Someone actually tried to kill you?” Nancy Slitter said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Yes ma’am, they did,” St. James said nonchalantly.
“Does this happen often?” Harold asked.
“More than I would like,” St. James said casually with a smile.
A number of directors stirred, looking astonished.
“Do you carry a weapon, Mr. St. James?” Blakie asked.
“Not often. Carrying handguns is illegal in Canada. But there have been times when RCMP, FBI, or Interpol have granted me temporary permits to carry, usually when we’re closing in on dangerous suspects.”
“I certainly hope that doesn’t happen here,” Andre Fox said.
“Me too,” St. James said, continuing to smile.
Anderson leaned forward. “I spent time researching you, Mr. St. James, and it seems you’re known mostly for corporate ethics investigations, not management reviews. How do you account for that?”
“I don’t,” St. James replied bluntly. “In many cases I’m asked to conduct a management review that evolves into ethical problems, and vice versa.”
“Have you been asked to investigate wrongdoing here?” Anderson persisted.
St. James skirted the question. “I never begin by suspecting anything. Investigations usually happen because management feels uncomfortable about something. Chips fall where they may.”
“I assume,” Anderson continued, eyeing St. James closely, “when you discover wrongdoing, you are discreet. You bring the information only to the person who engages you, so the matter may be handled properly. You speak to no one else.”
“Absolutely, except —”
“Except what?” Anderson interrupted.
“Except when the wrongdoing is done by the one who has engaged me.”
Anderson squinted, his body language suggesting disapproval of St. James’s flippant response. He sat back and said nothing further.
“Hamilton, why don’t you tell the board a little about your methods so they have some idea what to expect over the coming days?” Dunlop said, hoping to get the meeting back on positive ground.
St. James spent three-quarters of an hour outlining approaches; different places investigations could take the investigator. Then he answered a number of questions before the meeting adjourned at a quarter to four, when everyone but St. James and Anderson hustled from the room.
Anderson signed St. James’s engagement letter and outlined management’s expectation of the mandate in greater detail.
“Any issues whatsoever, you bring them to me and no one else, you understand?” he said tersely as he handed St. James the letter.
St. James studied the man for a brief moment, considering his seemingly adversarial approach. “I understand,” he said finally, in an equally stern tone.
Not a good start.
“We expect you to start Monday,” Anderson said as he half-heartedly shook St. James’s hand, and then left the boardroom.
Charming fellow.
He took the train to Lester B. Pearson Airport, checked in, and made his way through security. He had half an hour to spare before boarding the flight, time he happily dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon in the Air Canada lounge.
He made a note about Anderson’s aggressive behaviour. So vastly different from Graves’s description! Graves said Anderson was a salesman who put a spin on everything. He made notes of Cheryl Tomkins’s gravitas and Blakie’s concern that he carried a weapon. Nancy Slitter was focused only on business results. Harold Tewkesbury didn’t add much value. Andre Fox behaved like the lawyer he was. John Coughlin had said nothing. And Graves allowed the exchange without interruption, which on the surface seemed out of character.
The flight back to Ottawa was uneventful. St. James arrived in the condo around 7:45 and, before doing anything else, he phoned Anna. She would be anxious to hear all about the CISI meeting. He brought her up to speed on everything, including Cameron Anderson’s aggressive behaviour.
Anna was appalled. “Why would someone at that professional level speak to another professional that way? Especially someone he didn’t know, and in front of all the others.”
“Don’t know, dear. Most likely it’s because I wasn’t hand-picked by him and he saw me as a threat. Or maybe there’s an undercurrent among board members and I’m to be collateral damage. I’m sure it will come out as the project moves along.”
Chapter 19
Wednesday morning St. James discovered two voice messages on the home phone: Janice McPherson saying she’d soon be finished marking the test, and Anna asking him to call as soon as possible. He tapped her number on his cell.
“Just heading out to start my shift. Sid’s been phoning every ten minutes demanding I come in early. More customers than usual, and the new girl’s having trouble coping.”
“I see. Why were you calling?”
“Oh yes! Cameron Anderson. He’s forty-seven … Been in three major prior jobs, all vice-president of sales positions, no chief executive roles.”
“That ties in with Graves’s account. Unusual to pick someone with no previous CEO experience to head a large public company. Small private one, maybe. But it’s a big leap from vice-president of a private company to CEO of a public one the size of CISI,” St. James mused.
“I don’t know about that,” Anna said matter-of-factly. “I’m just giving you the search results.”
“Okay.” St. James smiled at her officious response.
“Interesting, he left each VP role quite suddenly, but was praised for his contribution to each company; accolades for growing sales by double digits each year. Seems CISI was interested in him for that reason. Newspaper articles said CISI sales were flat for five years prior to Anderson joining.”
“Great work, Anna.”
“Thanks. Oh, by the way, I found Graves’s bankruptcy trustee.”
St. James felt that twinge of excitement investigators experience when they stumble on a potential lead. Graves’s bankruptcy was now decades old and the chances of finding anything meaningful were, at best, remote.
“Did you get any information?” he asked anxiously.
“I spoke to a lady named Patricia Havelock in London, England. She said Graves’s files were in storage, and she’d require £1,500 to retrieve and review them. I wouldn’t commit without your approval.”
“Tell her we’ll cover the cost. It’s billable to CISI.”
“What am I supposed to ask?”
“Ask —”
“Just a minute. Wait till I get a pen and paper.”
Back seconds later Anna said, “Okay,
go ahead.”
“First, were all Nelson’s assets accounted for to the satisfaction of the trustee? Second, did the trustee have to take legal action to recover fraudulent preferences or conveyances?”
“What’s that?”
“Doesn’t matter right now. If he did something wrong, I’ll talk to her directly. Additional questions will hinge on the circumstances.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“That’s it.”
“Okay, sweetie, I’m on the case,” she said enthusiastically.
Enjoying her role, St. James thought as he disconnected.
St. James was feeling cooped up, anxious, and in need of a walk.
Although the day had begun with a promise of sun, the sky clouded by late afternoon, and fog began rolling in over the city.
Not pleasant for walking.
Nevertheless, St. James completed the three-hour jaunt. Traffic along Colonel By was steady but not the worst he’d ever experienced. The usual barrage of cyclist, joggers, and power-walkers crowded paths on both sides. No sign of Jar Jar Binks.
St. James landed back home at 5:45 and immediately poured a glass of Gabbiano Chianti and checked the phone. No voicemails.
He went into the study and gathered the rough notes he’d prepared for this coming Friday’s lecture, then moved to the living room.
The lecture plan called for morality, pillars of beliefs, and universal values to show what good people strive to do, what they applied to their own behaviour to avoid wrongdoing. St. James considered the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius for a long moment and concluded it a good fit.
Aurelius believed in five universal values: the pursuit of Truth, Justice, Courage, Moderation, and Wisdom. Solid foundations for proper business behaviour.
Wrongdoing originates in lies. But not all lies are equal when it comes to the damage they cause others. Wisdom is necessary to decide which lies cause the greatest harm, which must be challenged, and which should be let go.
Concealing truthful information or manipulating financial statements are examples of lies resulting in wrongdoing to business stakeholders. If others permit such wrongdoing to occur, they do not have the courage to reveal the injustice, which is in itself an injustice, albeit passive.
He made a number of changes until he was satisfied he’d built the foundation for good and bad business behaviour. Linking ancient philosophies to modern day business seemed to work well. But why does man deviate from truth, and why are businessmen motivated to grey the difference between right and wrong?
Businessmen spend considerable time setting both personal and corporate goals. There’s potential for great conflict between the two. Personal goals often centre around wealth creation and career advancement, which tend to place greater emphasis on short-term financial success, for the individual to earn career and financial rewards. Corporate goals such as growing revenue by 12% per year and increasing profit by 5% or acquiring a new business often involve longer-term investment strategies at the expense of short-term profits. Choosing between personal and corporate goals often creates conflict with business leaders. A lot of wrongdoing originates there.
He expanded the theme using three different business scandals to demonstrate the relevance of his points, then gathered the notes and placed them in a file labelled “Lectures.”
He poured a second glass of Chianti and settled on the couch to watch the news.
An hour later the phone rang again. Anna.
“Hi, you,” she said in an upbeat voice. “It was quiet here, so I called Patricia Havelock about Nelson. She’d anticipated we’d guarantee her costs, perhaps it was my enthusiasm when we spoke, and had arranged for Nelson’s files to be delivered from storage. According to her, your Mr. Graves transferred a piece of real estate located in the English countryside worth approximately £400,000 to a brother-in-law for no consideration a year prior to his bankruptcy. Graves thought he was in the clear because a year had passed, that he and his brother-in-law would benefit personally from the asset rather than his creditors. So he didn’t declare the property on his sworn statement of affairs. The trustee learned about this by accident from a solicitor friend and subsequently threatened Nelson with legal action if he didn’t return the property to the estate.”
“Hmm. Keep going.”
“Not much more to add. Graves returned the property to avoid criminal charges and a lawsuit he probably wouldn’t win. By the way, what does something that happened so many years ago have to do with CISI?”
“Everything and nothing,” St. James said lightheartedly.
Anna became impatient. “What do you mean, ‘everything and nothing’?”
“Tells me everything about Nelson, and nothing about CISI. Everything and nothing.”
They disconnected.
St. James wondered where his relationship with Anna Strauss was going. He knew he cared for her deeply. That was not the issue. Bringing a girlfriend into the business was a potentially dangerous move. Any number of things could go wrong. If they had known about it, his friends would call it strategically stupid. He wasn’t worried she’d fail at research: she’d already proven her value there. A relationship gone sour would mean losing professional help and companionship all at the same time. That would be too much. Time would tell whether this was his biggest mistake or the smartest thing he had ever done.
Chapter 20
Friday morning came soon enough.
St. James rose at seven, shaved, showered, then had toast and peanut butter for breakfast.
Before running off to 8:30 class he emailed the golf club to secure a Saturday morning tee time for him and Pierre and then confirmed the time with the inspector.
At 7:40 he locked the condo door and hoofed it down Elgin and across the Laurier Bridge and entered the classroom shortly after 8:15. There he set up a PowerPoint presentation and organized lecture notes before students piled in to take their seats.
St. James led the class through Marcus Aurelius’s concept of universal values and delivered a complete explanation of truth, justice, courage, moderation, and wisdom, including live examples relevant to business ethics. He emphasized Winston Churchill’s belief that passive injustice was just as wrong as active injustice, meaning if employees stood by while wrong was committed, they were just as guilty as those committing it. All just as he had outlined in the notes prepared the previous weekend.
Twenty minutes in St. James paused, drank water, and asked if there were questions. A hand went up in the third row.
“Yes, Mr. Shaw?”
“Companies generally don’t put their universal values on websites. How do we know if they have values they actually practice?” Ben Shaw asked.
“I have a list of key characteristics stakeholders look for when assessing companies holding themselves accountable. I believe this will answer your question, Ben.”
St. James scanned his computer desktop and double-clicked on a file marked “What Investors Look For,” and the contents popped up on the overhead screen.
“This is what stakeholders use when evaluating culture and corporate governance. It’s an excellent checklist, one I’ve used many times.
“I’m emailing the slide to you all as we speak.”
“Thank you, Professor St. James,” Ben said.
St. James looked around the room. “Other questions?”
Jane Stewart’s hand rose.
“Yes, Jane?”
“What really influences us to be accountable? I get the historical significance of thought leaders like Aurelius, but when it comes down to the modern-day person, what influences accountability is murky to me.”
St. James took a moment to gather his thoughts.
“There are many influences on our ability to be accountable. It begins in childhood. Were we taught right from wrong by parents, teachers, those we admired, and organizations that touched us? And was that teaching consistent enough to stick, to be engrained in our character? Were we taught to believe in
good over evil? Or were we allowed to misdirect blame?
“Young years are the most important years. They form us. Years we remember the most, for the rest of our lives.
“How many of you did wrong by accident when you were young and then blamed someone else?”
Four hands went up.
“The rest of you are not being truthful,” St. James said, smiling. “By not raising your hand you’re telling me you learned nothing about right and wrong. I personally learned the hard way.
“I threw a ball to my friend Randy when I was eight. It went wide, smashing Mr. Bishop’s window, our next-door neighbour at the time. I blamed Randy when I told my parents, but Mr. Bishop saw it was me who threw the ball and told my father what really happened. My father was furious. Not that I broke the window, but that I lied about it. He made me pay for a new window from my allowance, apologize to Mr. Bishop face-to-face while he stood over me, plus I couldn’t sit down for an hour or two.”
St. James ignored the giggles.
“My father said, if you had knocked on Mr. Bishop’s door, said it was you who threw the ball not Randy, said it was an accident, you were sorry, and you would replace the window, that would have been the end of it. Blaming Randy made things a lot worse than the consequences of just breaking the window. That was my first and greatest lesson on truth, justice, moderation, courage, and wisdom, all in one huge blow, and all at the age of eight.
“It touched me in so many ways. That’s what made the lesson stick. Financial pain, paying for the window. Personal pain, the embarrassment of apologizing to Mr. Bishop. All reinforcing the greatest lesson for getting through life: accountability!
“For some strange reason what my father did made its way into my DNA. It formed part of my character. I was with him many years later when he died and thanked him for the lesson. He smiled but couldn’t speak. It was his final moment.
“Exposed to bad people long enough, good people eventually do wrong. Small things at first, maybe. But like any addiction small wrongs have a way of growing, turning into larger ones over time. You steal a loonie. You don’t get caught. You steal ten dollars. You don’t get caught. You age. Now you manage a company, in a position of trust. You have the opportunity to manipulate thousands, maybe even millions, of dollars to benefit yourself. Stakes rise, risks rise, especially if not checked by consequences along the way.
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