Delirious

by Daniel Palmer

  “I’ve had this meeting on my calendar for a week now,” Charlie said.

  He had practiced the lie in his apartment several times that morning, even using Monte as a test audience. He had no margin for error. He had to be accepted and welcomed into the meeting as if he had belonged there all along. To do that required confidence and attitude, qualities Charlie possessed in abundance. If it played out the way he expected, Yardley and the others would assume that Charlie was supposed to be there and that someone had simply forgotten to update the agenda. In a company of twenty thousand employees, those mistakes happened.

  Jerry Schmidt was in the room as well. He looked up at Charlie and then over to Yardley but didn’t say anything. He didn’t even acknowledge that Charlie was there.

  “Well, it’s always good to have you,” Yardley said with polite sincerity. “Todd, you compiled the agenda. What is Mr. Giles here to discuss?”

  Todd Cumberland, a junior vice president in marketing, stared at Charlie.

  “InVision,” Charlie said. “I’m here to discuss InVision. What else?”

  Jerry Schmidt perked up. Jerry had a round, expressive face, bushy brown hair, and squinting oval eyes that shifted and blinked constantly, as though he had just awoken and was adjusting his sight. Stuffed into a brown suit that had been in vogue years ago and wearing tan shoes in desperate need of a good polish, Jerry was at least fifteen pounds overweight. From what Charlie could tell, that didn’t bother him in the least. Charlie knew his type well—not an appearance guy, but an old-fashioned workhorse, who had built a sizable fortune through marketing savvy and diligent follow-through, not engineering brilliance, qualities that greatly contributed to the company’s bottom line and Yardley’s steadfast loyalty. Convincing Yardley to turn on Jerry was going to be an uphill climb.

  “Don’t trust marketing to represent you, Charlie? Or did Mac tell you to come here and cover?” Jerry asked.

  “I’m here on my own,” Charlie said. “Mac is out of town, so we didn’t have time to connect on my topic.”

  Charlie’s boss, Simon “Mac” Mackenzie, was on vacation and wouldn’t be back for another few days. The timing, from Charlie’s perspective, could not have been better. He hadn’t worked for Mac long, but Charlie knew him well enough to know he would never have condoned such aggressive tactics. Fortunately, Mac had one quality that served Charlie’s mission well: the discipline to stay out of office affairs while on vacation.

  Charlie settled into a vacant seat next to Todd and soaked up his surroundings. It took everything he had to suppress a childlike wonderment. It was a privilege to be invited to a meeting in the Falcon Room, and unheard of for new directors, such as Charlie, to be included in steering committee sessions. No doubt there had never been a gate-crasher before.

  The Falcon Room was the epicenter of the most high-powered, important meetings at SoluCent. It was a museum of sorts, with floor-to-ceiling glass shelves that displayed the company’s distinguished history of product successes with a peacock’s flair. Charlie couldn’t help but notice that the wall behind Yardley’s seat was devoted exclusively to the VidOX gaming system, one of SoluCent’s flagship products. He knew that it wouldn’t be long before InVision eclipsed VidOX in product importance and secured its rightful place of prominence on the wall behind the company’s CEO and chairman of the board.

  On the rare occasion when one of SoluCent’s major investors grew skeptical of the company’s direction or industry relevance, they had only to enter the Falcon Room for their opinions to change. The sea of blinking lights and illuminating glow from the two dozen brightly lit monitors dazzled away the doubts of even the harshest critic.

  Over the next several minutes other executives shuffled into the meeting, some staring at their BlackBerrys, thumbs firing off e-mails, others chattering on cell phones, finishing conversations. Charlie noticed how none of them spoke to each other. It amused him how out of touch people became the higher they climbed. Charlie vowed never to lose touch with his employees when he made vice president.

  As more executives entered the room and the seats around the conference table began to fill, Charlie’s confidence weakened, while his pulse quickened. He hadn’t realized the size of this meeting. The invite Anne Pedersen had forwarded didn’t contain the complete attendee list. As it turned out, everyone who was anyone at SoluCent was present.

  Charlie cast aside his anxiety with the thought of what was at stake. He had no choice but to counterstrike before Jerry Schmidt could poison his future.

  It was true that the move risked alienating him from the power source. If Leon Yardley disagreed with Charlie’s claims about how In-Vision would revolutionize SoluCent’s business, if he was dismayed by Charlie’s aggressive tactics, everything Charlie had worked so hard to achieve would be lost.

  Charlie took a breath and reassured himself. He had no choice.

  When everyone was seated, Leon Yardley spoke. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “we have a full agenda, so I want to get started on time. For those of you who have not met Mr. Charlie Giles before, he is the wunderkind behind InVision. I’m sure you’ve heard me speak fondly of him.”

  Charlie felt twenty pairs of eyes boring into him. His heart still raced. He kept rubbing his hands against the cool leather chair to wipe away the sweat from his palms.

  “Hello, everyone,” Charlie said, greeting the room, hoping nobody noticed the slight waver in his voice.

  “Naturally, Charlie is here to speak about InVision,” Yardley said. “But I must admit that I’m not entirely sure what topic he is here to cover.”

  Megan Sullivan, vice president of North American sales, let out an audible sigh and asked, “Doesn’t Jerry have InVision on his agenda?”

  “I do,” Jerry said. “But apparently Charlie has something he wants to say as well.”

  Megan made it a point to look at her watch before responding. “Leon, I want to make sure we have time to discuss the MicroComp issue.”

  “Of course, Megan,” Yardley said. “It’s foremost on my mind. Charlie, if it wouldn’t trouble you, since we have a full agenda and you’re somewhat of a surprise guest, we’ll give you five minutes or so to discuss your topic. Can you cover what you need to in that time?”

  For a moment Charlie couldn’t look up. Is this how Harry Wess-ner felt when I confronted him about Arthur Bean? Trapped and terrified? Charlie hated feeling this out of control. The room seemed to dim, although nobody had adjusted the lights. Blood from his pumping heart pounded in his ears. Who was Charlie Giles to attack Jerry Schmidt in this way? Granted he was climbing the ladder, but he wasn’t on Jerry’s rung, at least not yet. And this was going to be a humiliating experience for Jerry. For a moment, Charlie almost felt sorry for the man.

  Then he remembered what Jerry was here to do. He was here to shut down InVision.

  You brought this fight to your door, Jerry, he thought.

  Charlie pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. He made brief eye contact with each of the powerhouse attendees. He stayed quiet for a second, collected his nerves, then spoke with authority.

  “Leon, I’ll be glad to take the floor for five minutes,” Charlie said.

  “And what exactly are you talking about, Charlie?” Jerry asked.

  “Well, Jerry,” Charlie said, “if you must know, my topic is you.”

  That caused some commotion, a few laughs, and some sidebar conversations. Jerry Schmidt smiled, but it was nervous and forced.

  “I’m confused,” Jerry said. “What do you mean, me?”

  “Better to show you than to tell you,” Charlie said.

  Inwardly Charlie smiled. The moment was his to control.

  Chapter 6

  The room grew silent, and all eyes rested on Charlie. Moments later Charlie plugged his USB key into the computer and projected his PowerPoint presentation onto the large, retractable white screen at the front of the conference room.

  “I don’t want to say how I k
now, Jerry, because that wouldn’t be fair to my source,” Charlie began. “But I know what you’re here to present today, and I respectfully must disagree with it.”

  “I’m sorry. What did you say? You disagree with me? I find that a bit strange, Charlie,” Jerry returned.

  “Well, it’s the reason I’m here today. I’m here to implore this executive team to consider all sides and to not make any hasty decisions about InVision’s future based on a single perspective. Based on your perspective, Jerry.” Charlie made sure to face his adversary when he spoke his name.

  “I’m still confused, Charlie,” Jerry said. “How is it you came to know about my presentation?”

  “That doesn’t matter right now,” Charlie said. “I thought the best way for you to understand how and why InVision will help to shape SoluCent’s future is with facts and data. For some of you seated here, I’m sure this will just be a refresher course.”

  Charlie’s PowerPoint deck was only six slides in all, but each helped tell a carefully crafted story: healthy consumer interest in In-Vision, lower than projected production costs, a multipronged sales strategy that included a comprehensive advertising plan and details of the partnerships with some of the world’s most prominent automotive manufacturers. The business case was as airtight as a killing jar.

  Charlie’s presentation style, forceful but not overly animated, was no less convincing than the content. His word choice had been carefully crafted and memorized. His timing ensured the presentation took less than five minutes, without him seeming rushed or vague. Having run his own executive-level meetings, Charlie had anticipated a tight agenda and limited floor time.

  The final slide was a direct comparison of Jerry’s assertions, taken from the PowerPoint Anne Pedersen had provided, with Charlie’s data in larger, bold type. Several sub-bullets backed up his claims and illustrated just how wrong Jerry’s assertions were.

  “These numbers are irrefutable,” Charlie concluded. “I welcome an audit, and I promise you, the Magellan Team uses GAAP for all our figures. There is no fudge factor here.”

  Everyone in the room sat quietly after Charlie finished. There was some shuffling of papers, the soft creaking of chairs.

  “Any questions or comments?” Charlie asked.

  Charlie stood awkwardly at the front of the room. He faced the silence and rocked back and forth on his heels, praying that someone would speak up.

  Jerry Schmidt put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands. He took in an audible deep breath and let it out slowly. In the quiet of the room, it was as loud as a scream. He looked puzzled and concerned. Good, Charlie thought. You wanted to play hardball, Jerry. How does it feel to be on the losing side?

  “Charlie,” Jerry began slowly. He spoke in a very authoritative tone, as though he were confronting a child who had just done something against the rules. “How is it again that you came across my presentation you’re attacking?”

  Charlie couldn’t help but let out a little smirk. Gotcha, you jackass.

  “That’s not important, Jerry,” Charlie said. “The bottom line is that I knew what you were presenting and I felt it was my obligation as a shareholder in SoluCent to present the counterargument. You now have the facts as I see them. You have both sides. We’ll each have a chance to have our say. I’m comfortable leaving it up to the executive team to make any final decisions.”

  “I’m glad you feel that way, Charlie,” Jerry said. “Really glad. It’s just … well, it’s just strange that you thought I was here to attack In-Vision.”

  The comment stunned Charlie. He took a step for balance and wound up standing in front of the projection screen, casting warped numbers from his slide across his body and lighting up his reddening face with the white-hot light from the projection bulb.

  “I’m sorry, Jerry. What are you saying? I don’t think I follow you.”

  “What I’m saying Charlie, is you should have looked at my presentation before you got up here.” Jerry leaned back in his chair. “My presentation,” Jerry added for emphasis. “The one I planned on giving today. The one I’ve always planned to show.”

  Jerry stood up; the room remained silent. He went over to the computer, opened his PowerPoint presentation from the network, and projected it on the large white screen. Charlie had moved back so he could read the title slide. A sinking, sickening feeling of horror washed over him.

  The Future is here and now! Winning big with InVision By Jerry Schmidt, Vice President, Channel Marketing, the Americas

  “I’m confused,” Charlie said.

  “Well, darn it,” Jerry said in a mocking singsong voice. “So am I, Charlie! Confused and bewildered at that. Do you want me to go through my deck? I mean, you covered most of it already.”

  “I … I … don’t understand.” Charlie felt flushed, blood racing through him, his heart beating mercilessly in his chest. For a moment he thought he might be sick.

  “Leon, you can scratch me from the agenda, okay?” said Jerry. “Charlie covered all my slides. Growth, new market position, new consumer demand, cross-selling opportunities, and projected increase to net revenue of one hundred forty million year one—and that’s a low estimate.”

  “Charlie! Jerry!” Yardley said. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “I’m asking the same question, Leon. I think only Charlie knows the answer,” replied Jerry.

  All eyes turned to Charlie.

  “I was told by a very reliable source that Jerry was here to try and shut down InVision, to push it into R & D. This person gave me Jerry’s presentation,” Charlie explained. “I don’t know what is going on, but I’m guessing Jerry caught wind of it and changed his deck to make me look bad.”

  “Well, you look bad,” Yardley said. “Jerry, is this true?”

  “Absolutely not!” Jerry snapped. “That is completely absurd. I have one position on InVision. Sell the shit out of it. That’s all! The product is great, and it is going to make SoluCent better. End of story.”

  “Charlie?” said Yardley.

  “I have his deck, Leon! I don’t know who he thinks he’s fooling,” said Charlie.

  “Who I’m fooling? Who are you fooling, Charlie?” Jerry asked. “Tell me, who gave you this alleged PowerPoint of mine?”

  He had no choice. The situation had changed. “Anne Pedersen,” Charlie said after a pause. “I got the deck from Anne Pedersen. She gave it to me a few days ago at lunch.”

  Charlie didn’t have time to think of the consequences, but the moment he spoke her name, he was awash with guilt. He remembered what she had told him. That she had just gotten divorced. He thought she had mentioned children to support. Surely she’d be fired after this came out in the open. But he wouldn’t let her down completely. He knew people. He could get her another job in another company if he had to.

  Charlie could see Jerry processing, thinking intently.

  Jerry spoke in a calm, dispassionate voice. “I don’t know who that is,” he said.

  Charlie glared at him. “You … you … don’t know who that is?” He was enraged at the audacity, Jerry’s ruthlessness. It was bad enough that Jerry had somehow switched presentations to cover his tracks and humiliate Charlie in the process, but to lie flat out was inconceivable.

  Charlie looked around the room for signs of support, anyone who was willing to speak on his behalf, at least acknowledge that they knew, worked with, or ate lunch with Anne Pedersen. But it was clear that nobody wanted any part of this. They stayed quiet.

  “Watch out, Charlie,” Yardley interrupted. “You’re getting a bit out of hand.”

  “I’m out of hand? I’m out of hand?” Charlie said, the second time much louder. “Jerry here is playing games, and I don’t know what this is all about. A woman named Anne Pedersen contacted me. She gave me this file,” he said, holding up his USB key. “I looked her up in the corporate directory. She works for you, Jerry! For you! And you don’t know a thing about this? Come on!” Charlie slamme
d his open palm against the polished mahogany table with a resounding thud that shot through the silent room like a clap of thunder.

  “That’s enough! Enough!” Leon Yardley stood. He pointed to Charlie’s empty chair. “Mr. Giles, it is in your best interest to take a seat now.”

  Charlie did as instructed as Yardley turned to speak to Jerry.

  “Jerry, you stand behind your claims? You never intended to discredit InVision today. And Anne Pedersen is not your employee.”

  “I do,” Jerry said.

  “Let’s get to the bottom of this, then.” Yardley grabbed the conference room Polycom and dialed the operator. He asked for Gail Lyndon in Human Resources. The moment she answered, he asked that she look up Anne Pedersen’s employment history.

  “We don’t have any employee named Anne Pedersen,” came her reply over the speakerphone.

  Yardley spelled the name, looked to Charlie for confirmation. Charlie nodded. For a moment, the only sound was that of a keyboard typing on the other end of the phone.

  “I’m sorry,” Gail said. “But we don’t have any employee with the last name Pedersen.”

  Yardley clasped his hands tightly together and looked over at Charlie. “I’m listening,” he said.

  Charlie stammered, “I told you what I know. A woman named Anne Pedersen, who claimed to work for Jerry, gave me the file. She was an employee. She had a badge. Leon, she gave me the file!” He sounded desperate. Of course it happened, Charlie thought. It was as real as this nightmare was now.

  “How do you account for her not existing, Charlie?” Jerry said.

  Charlie thought for a moment. “I’ll show you how.”

  He stood and walked to the computer and opened the PowerPoint presentation that Anne Pedersen had given him. The title slide was projected on the screen.