Executive

by Leslie Wolfe

  "And why is this starting to show only now?" Walker probed.

  "I think it has to do with the parts inventory levels. Until now, we have used our older parts inventory, the parts produced before the budget cuts. We've started to phase in new parts only since March or so. We manage our inventory first-in, first-out, so we worked through the older inventory first." As he was explaining the circumstances, Dunwood was regaining his confidence. He had data on his side, facts, common sense, and logic. He should end up being fine.

  "Tell me, please," Walker asked in that calm, yet threatening, tone of voice he used before he started yelling, "who authorized you to take quality out of the product to cut costs?"

  "You can only go so far with cost-driven process redesign and optimization, before you start negatively impacting the product, even if you don't want to. If you recall, sir, I sent you a series of emails about this last November. We even met a couple of times, and I told you back then— "

  "And I told you back then," Walker interrupted, "that you are to cut costs by 30 percent, while maintaining, or increasing, current quality levels. Do you recall that?"

  "Yes, I do, sir, but—"

  "But what? You come in here now and try to pin this on me?"

  "I didn't mean—"

  "Didn't mean what? Didn't mean for me to find out just how lame and incompetent you are? I have never, never authorized you to jeopardize product quality to achieve your budget goals." Walker had raised his voice to thunderous levels, punctuated by rhythmically slamming his fist on the table.

  "But sir, you have to understand that—"

  "I don't have to understand anything!" Walker pounded. "I don't have to understand incompetence, I don't have to tolerate incompetence, and I absolutely don't have to keep paying for incompetence! If you can't get this job done, I'll find someone else who can! Just say the word!"

  "But, sir, if you consider—" Dunwood's chin was trembling again, and so were his hands.

  "Are you saying the word? Should I replace you?"

  "No, sir."

  "Then, are you going to finally start doing your job? Are you going to fix this without burning a hole in my pocket?"

  "Yes, sir, I'll try to find some—"

  "Don't try! Get it done! You have sixty days. This is your last warning!"

  The same two heads were nodding in approval, filling Alex with disgust.

  "That's it, I'm done with you." Walker pounded his fist again, for dramatic effect. "Dismissed." He grabbed his portfolio and notebook, and left, slamming the door behind him.

  Dunwood sat on the nearest chair; he looked as if he were going to be sick. Somehow, his heavily wrinkled face seemed well-suited for his job, reflecting as much worry, pain, embarrassment, and fear, as a human face could possibly reflect.

  Alex noticed the others were slowly leaving the room. She saw Miles Putnam from R&D pull out a pack of cigarettes, and she took the opportunity, following him into the elevator.

  "Miles, right?" she asked him.

  "Yes, that's right," he answered.

  "Going out for a smoke? Mind if I join you?"

  "No, not at all, please do."

  They stepped out of the elevators and into the nicely trimmed lawn behind the building. He lit up.

  "You're not smoking?" he asked in surprise.

  "Oh, I just quit a few months ago, but after a meeting like that, I'm sorry I did," Alex replied. "This time I'll settle for a few breaths of passive smoke," she said with a chuckle.

  "I know how you feel; it gets pretty intense in there. Must be hard on you, being new and all that. Hope we didn't scare you away."

  "No, not yet," she responded, laughing at the thought. "It was tough, though. Is it always this painfully uncomfortable?"

  "Pretty much, but you shouldn't be asking such questions. You never know who hears you, and what they do with what they hear. Walker demands absolute loyalty and beyond."

  "But you have to admit," she pressed on, "this is pretty extreme. I wonder how come no one tells him anything about it. It doesn't have to be so painful and stressful."

  "Look, there's a lot of value in being pushed so hard. There is a lot to learn about your own limits, and what you can achieve under pressure. Just as wartime stimulates innovation and generates a significantly higher number of groundbreaking inventions than peacetime, we push our limits further under pressure than we would ever push them under different, less challenging conditions. Overall, it's good for you. Trust me. You'll learn to appreciate it. Anyway, I don't want to talk about this anymore, and I suggest you don't either," Miles said, turning his back to Alex and walking away.

  ...37

  ...Wednesday, June 23, 7:49PM

  ...Tom Isaac's Residence

  ...Laguna Beach, California

  "I'm telling you, Alex, grilling is a sophisticated art form at this address," a cheerful Richard Ferguson stated, putting his fork and knife down on his empty plate.

  "So I have learned," Alex replied, still amazed at the refined combination of tastes presented by the pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce. "Our boss knows his way around the grill, that's for sure."

  "How have you been? I haven't seen you since we came back from Minnesota," Richard asked. A rare presence at their team reunions due to his client assignment, Richard had lots to offer in terms of the advice Alex was seeking.

  After they finished their dinners, they grabbed their drinks and went into the living room, gathering around the small coffee table. Alex took an armchair, sharing it with Little Tom. The cat allowed her to push him over slightly, just enough to make room for her to sit on the edge of the chair, then stretched his legs and yawned wholeheartedly.

  Tom was the last one to join them.

  "Thank you for yet another wonderful dinner," Alex said.

  "Hear, hear," Steve chimed in, raising his glass.

  "You are welcome. It's a pleasure to see all of you gathered around our dinner table. That's why," he said, turning toward Alex, "whenever I get the chance, I invite everyone. Alex brought today's opportunity. She wanted to talk through a couple of issues with me, so why don't we do this now?"

  "Sure," Alex said. They were all watching her, listening carefully to what she had to say. "First off," she continued, "I need your help to reach out to Dr. Barnaby and ask him to somehow make sure I don't get fired before I even have a chance to do my job."

  "Is it that bad?" Tom had concern in his voice.

  "I'm not sure, but there is a distinct possibility that it could happen on a whim. These executives are a bit extreme. And, if I get terminated, it would make it very difficult for us to continue to work this case."

  "That is a valid point of view," Tom said. "So, how should we do this?"

  "Dr. Barnaby could easily put out a memo saying that all hiring and firing of leadership have to go through him for prior approval, effective immediately," Richard offered. "The executives would think that someone screwed up; they would never think Alex is in any way connected to this."

  Richard's solution made sense. The rest nodded in approval.

  "Solved!" Tom said, rubbing his palms together. "What else is on your mind?"

  "I wanted to pick your brains to see how I could be a smoker without really being one. My presence on the smoker's lawn would be beneficial; that's the only place where people open up and chat, but they will be suspicious if I don't smoke. Problem is, I never smoked in my life, and I'd rather not start now."

  "There's that e-cig, right?" Steve said. "Have you heard of it?" No one offered a yes, so he continued. "Relatively new on the market, the e-cig has been around for a few years. It's an electronic cigarette, a device that delivers nicotine, without the smoke. It puts out a small puff of harmless water vapor imitating smoke. It even lights up at the end, just like a real cigarette would."

  "Then, no one would notice the difference?" Alex wondered.

  "I think they would notice. It's like a cigarette, but also quite different. It doesn't consume itself
during use; you don't have to throw it away. However, it would help you get accepted as a smoker. You'd tell anyone who asks that you used to smoke, but had to quit smoking the real stuff because of long meetings and days without a break, and you couldn't stand it anymore. Any smoker will relate," Steve said, winking. "All smokers endure hell when they are prevented from smoking, in meetings, during flights, or in airports. They'll understand and accept you."

  "I don't see why," Alex said, "Wouldn't you need to get out of the meeting, airport, and so on to smoke the e-cig?"

  "No, that's exactly it," Steve clarified. "The e-cig doesn't put out any kind of smoke or smell, so it won't trigger any smoke sensors. It can be safely used indoors."

  "How about the nicotine?" Tom asked. "I wouldn't ask Alex to start puffing nicotine either. It would be just as addictive as real smoke, and who knows what other side effects it might have."

  "I think we could rig that thing to be nicotine-free," Brian Woods intervened.

  "Thank you, Steve, for sharing your in-depth knowledge on smoking and smoking alternatives," Tom said. "I think we have a solution for this challenge. Alex, we could potentially have that set up for you and ready to use in the next couple of days."

  "Thank you both," Alex said, "it will be very helpful for me. This particular work culture is strange, and I need people to open up to me."

  "Strange, how?" Tom asked.

  "Both executives I have spent time with are abusive, insulting, and unbelievably aggressive bastards. Sorry," she said, while a faint blush colored her cheeks, "didn't mean to use that word."

  "Why? If they are indeed bastards, then you need to describe them appropriately, right?" Steve said, making everyone laugh, including Alex.

  "Yes, they are. Nevertheless, the strangest thing is that no one seems to care about it or do anything about it. They are between numb—which I could potentially understand—and supportive—which I can't."

  "Probably these executives have surrounded themselves with enablers, so the interactions you are seeing are unnatural," Steve said.

  "Enablers? Could you please explain what you mean by that?" Alex asked. She was not familiar with the concept.

  "Enablers are those who will supply the despot what he needs to make things possible for him," Steve said.

  "I get that," Alex replied, "I know the definition of the word. What I don't understand is how that plays out in this situation."

  "Very simple. Imagine the following conversation, taking place in a meeting. The boss says 'I hate that painting; it's ugly.' Then, enabler number one would say 'It's ugly because it's green, sir.' Enabler number two would say 'It's ugly because it's square, sir.' And so on. Is this what you're seeing?"

  "Yes, definitely," Alex said. "But why would anyone do that?"

  "Mostly for survival. They know they can't stand up to the despot and actually win the battle, so they build themselves a method of survival, one that would ensure that the despot picks on someone else. It's as simple as that."

  "Tell me more about the bastards, Alex," Tom asked. "Do you think they are to blame for what's going on?"

  "Yes, I am starting to think so, maybe just in part, if not entirely. Walker, the COO, does not want to listen to anything coming from his head of manufacturing, after he had cut the spending into the ground, forcing them to take cost out of the product. That could well be the cause for the drone failure we've seen—it could be as simple as that."

  "Why did he cut spending, do you know?" Tom asked.

  "Not sure. I was unaware of any financial difficulties the company might have."

  "So was I," Tom confirmed. "I will ask Dr. Barnaby about it first thing tomorrow morning."

  "Walker was keen on the cost thing. He kept referring to 'spending my money,' 'burning holes in my pocket,' and so on," Alex added, making quotation mark gestures with her fingers, to underline the phrases she was quoting from Walker.

  "I see," Tom said, raising his eyebrows.

  "Very interesting," Steve, said. "You know why, don't you?"

  "Um . . . not sure," Alex said.

  "In his mind, NanoLance is his. Manufacturing is spending his money. He is the one, or one of those who are behind the unexplained stock price fluctuations. He may be planning to take over the company. We need to carefully watch this man."

  "I've set it up so that all email traffic from specific individuals gets cloned as it passes through the email server, and I get a copy of everything that they send or receive," Alex said.

  "That must be a gazillion emails hitting your inbox," Brian said, "how do you manage?"

  "That's true," Alex smiled, "but first of all, I didn't clone everyone's email account, just a targeted few people. Then, well, that's what evenings are for, right? It's only for a short while. I'm more worried about the budget cuts Sheppard wants me to execute in my area."

  "Him too?" Tom asked.

  "Yes, I was tasked with identifying and executing a 10 percent budget cut in infrastructure and support."

  "Send me a copy of your P&L, and we'll work on it together," Richard offered.

  "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Alex's exuberance was contagious.

  "What's P&L?" Steve asked.

  "Aww . . . you dreamer, wake up, will you? Profit and loss statement, remember? The financial tool of choice to manage departmental or companywide income and expenses," Richard clarified.

  "Ah, that P&L, yes, I remember," Steve said, and everyone laughed.

  "What would you expect from a shrink?" Richard continued, mercilessly.

  "Whoa, buddy, stop it right there, before I quiz you on your corporate culture syndromes and related stress-induced psychological and physiological effects in employees," Steve said, making mock-aggressive gestures toward Richard.

  "Tell me more," Alex intervened.

  "About what?" Steve turned.

  "About corporate culture. From what I have seen at NanoLance, the culture is highly dysfunctional. I know I'm there for a limited time, and with the purpose of doing a specific job, but otherwise I would have run away screaming by now. I wonder if the culture might be, even partly, to blame for this mess."

  "OK, let's examine the culture a little," Steve said, all serious now and lighting up a cigar. "What is corporate culture? Not just at NanoLance, but in general?"

  "It's the way a company does things, right?" Alex ventured.

  "Yes, exactly that. The definition in the big book of organizational behavior is three paragraphs long, but, in essence, it's the way a company does things. Let's apply this to practical examples. The anonymous note's author stayed anonymous because of the culture—he or she was afraid of consequences, which means the company does things this way: when presented with a whistleblower, of sorts, the company causes that person harm in one way or another. Well, what's that telling you about the company?"

  "I see," Alex said, "but I don't see Dr. Barnaby being at fault at all in this."

  "We've already established that," Steve continued, "but he might be too isolated in his ivory tower."

  "Ivory tower?" Richard asked.

  "Gotcha!" Steve turned and fired an imaginary gun in Richard's direction. "Mr. Wall Street here hasn't heard of this biblical term, depicting the intellectual who lets himself become disconnected from the real world."

  "I see," Alex said again, "so he's essentially not seeing what's going on around him, that's what you're saying?"

  "Yes, that's exactly right. All he sees when he's walking those hallways are smiling faces. No one has the guts to approach him with anything, and everything that goes wrong in that company stays behind closed doors, where he does not reach."

  "How badly do you think the culture can be damaging things?" Alex asked.

  "A company's dysfunctional culture can drive the company into the ground in some cases. We've all seen examples in recent years, a few resounding bankruptcies come to mind, famous for how executives refused to hear the truth from their teams."

  "That's exactly what I
've seen happening here," Alex said. "But what can we do?"

  "Culture is generated, influenced, or enforced by a few people. Culture is just a process, so it can be re-engineered, analyzed, taken apart, and put back together again, or simply replaced with a newer, better one. The key to addressing cultural issues at this level is to identify the drivers of the bad culture and remove them. Just like you would do with the proverbial rotten apple."

  "Who are these drivers?" Alex asked.

  "They are the people driving the bad culture. The abusers, the deaf ears, the insulters, and the tyrants who promote the climate of fear, the corporate bullies, in one word the toxic leaders."

  "Toxic leaders?" Alex asked again for more details, grateful for all the information she was getting.

  "A toxic leader is not your typical hard-assed boss. Toxic leaders are much more than that. To qualify, they have to inflict harm on the members of their team, or even on the entire organization. They do this harm with the sole purpose of promoting their interests. They would not hesitate to insult, humiliate in public, threaten with consequences or with physical violence, even violate basic human rights. They would purposely undermine and demoralize team members, as they work their way to dismantle all the mechanisms that organizations have in place to ensure their existence does not occur.

  "They are clearly sociopaths, displaying no conscience and no remorse, leaving hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of broken hearts and destroyed careers in their wake. All that, while doing their best and using all their charisma to persuade their leaders that they are the best thing that could have happened to business since the invention of electricity, and that they are, first and foremost, irreplaceable. "

  "Sociopaths? Really?" Alex pushed back, surprised.

  "Remember your first week's readings?" Steve continued, unabated. "Sociopaths are quite numerous, at least 4 percent of the population. They don't all turn homicidal; unfortunately, some of them just turn to business leadership. I've read somewhere that there is a strong correlation between sociopathic traits and business leadership achievement. Sad, isn't it?"