Dad chuckles at his own joke. The rest of the room joins in a beat too late, but he doesn’t seem to notice.
“We need to determine when, though. As you all know, the fall is a busy time of year for us. We’re unveiling a new fall product and a new winter product this year, so we need all hands-on deck. Today’s vote is to decide if we should hold the day out this year but on a Saturday so we don’t lose production day, or wait until January.”
I think about the proposition. This season is busier than we expected because we usually only release one new product per half of the year. We decided to try two out this time, and we’re feeling the strain. The marketing department is struggling to finish with the fall branding so they can get a head start on winter. It’s already the end of September, so we need to get a move on.
“I would like to open the room for discussion.”
No one speaks. This is how it always goes with minor decisions. No one wants to make an argument either way. I sigh quietly. It always comes down to me.
“I think we should go with a Saturday this year,” I say. “Because we’re so busy, it’ll be nice to break up the craziness with a day out. What if we planned it for the first weekend of November? That marks the end of our fall campaign and the start of our winter campaign. It’s a natural break point.”
My father nods. “That’s a logical argument, son.”
The rest of the board seems to agree. No one counters me, so my father puts it to a vote.
“All those in favor of having our day out the first weekend of November, say aye.”
The entire twelve-person board says “aye” and the motion passes. If my dad had a gavel, he’d slam it against the table. I’m honestly surprised he doesn’t.
Dad moves on to a few other things we need to discuss, but my mind wanders. Outside the glass wall of the conference room, I have a perfect view of Jack’s new assistant. The curvy young woman is organizing her desk. Every time she leans forward to pick something up, her curly brown hair falls into her eyes and she has to push it back. It’s adorable.
No, I tell myself. She’s not adorable.
Except she is. I thought it the second she knocked on my door. If I hadn’t been so pissed about an email Jack sent me, I would’ve been nicer to her. I should probably apologize. I’ll have to find her later.
She fiddles with another stack of papers. Jack should’ve cleaned up the mess Savannah left. It wasn’t even that Savannah left on bad terms, she was just kind of a slob. Organized chaos, she liked to call it. She could’ve put some effort in after Jack’s recommendation got her a programming position at his buddy’s tech company, but Melody is forced to clean up the mess.
In front of my office, Emma keeps taking cautious glances towards Melody. Emma is always hesitant to accept newcomers to the executive floor. She has been my assistant for almost two years now, and she has seen Jack blow through at least five people in that time. Some left for new jobs, but a couple couldn’t take the workload. I don’t blame them. Making new spreadsheets out of a bunch of old spreadsheets is the most boring job I can think of.
“The last thing on our schedule today is a proposal from Cameron,” Dad says, pulling me from my daydream. “Please share your proposal with the board.”
I nod and stand. Walking around the table, I hand out copies of my ten-page proposal. “This is just a preliminary report,” I explain as I give each person their bound copy. “I have a longer version to go over should we decide to move forward.”
Once everyone has the proposal, I stand in front of the projector screen. My presentation is already queued up thanks to Emma.
“As you all know, Snax has prided itself on being a sustainable company. We do our part to encourage recycling and use as many renewable energy sources as we can. Our offices already run on seventy percent solar power.”
My dad beams with pride. The green company is his child as much as Jack and I are.
“However, our factories have not had the same success. We produce our snacks here in the United States, which is more than most companies can say, but we can do more than that. I am proposing that we install solar panels to power eighty percent of each factory before the end of next year.”
The board looks stunned. Sheila nods encouragingly and Dad looks rapt, but everyone else is glancing between Jack and me. I know exactly why. Jack has a habit of blocking every proposal I bring to the board. Which is why I’ve spent months ensuring this time, nothing he can say will stop my idea from going forward.
“If you turn to page three,” I say, changing my slide. “You’ll see the value of solar energy. It’s completely renewable, unlike the current fuel-powered electricity we’re using at all but one of our factories. All the locations are far enough away from trees that we won’t need to cut anything down to make it work. The tops of the buildings are strong enough to hold the solar panels.”
I switch to the next slide and have the board turn to page four. “Now, of course we need to talk about financials. It’ll be an investment at first. Installing the solar panels is on the expensive side. However, if you look on the next page, you’ll see that it’s worth the investment. We will make up for the cost in less than five years just on the money we save on energy. After that, we’ll be saving more than sixty percent on energy costs, which means our profits will go up.”
I continue to go over the money, which Ali helped me with. We covered all of our bases, showing how the company value will increase after five years, and the tax breaks we’ll get for being even more environmentally conscious. When I’m done, the entire board looks stunned.
My dad is smiling widely. “That was a great presentation, son. You really did your research on this. Why don’t we put it to a vote?”
Jack smirks. “I have something to say first,” he says. I knew this was coming, but I’m not worried. My proposal was solid. “All of this looks great on paper, but it isn’t practical. We’re increasing our product output next year with a new snack each quarter, something we have never done. We can’t possibly have the solar panels done by the end of the year on top of the heavier production schedule.”
“Then we get it done by the end of the following year, when things have leveled out. The deadline is flexible, but I want it done as soon as possible.”
“The following year won’t work, either. There would be too much disruption in production to keep up with demand.”
“Disruption would be minimal,” I counter.
Jack sighs. “Minimal disruption is still too much. We can’t possibly justify this cost right now. Maybe in five years we can revisit the possibility, but I don’t think it would work right now. The cost of putting in the solar panels is too great when we’re trying to expand production.”
Shit. Jack is sincere, and I can tell the board is buying it. He doesn’t need any data to back up his point. He just needs to say words and they’ll agree with him. Jack inherited our father’s charisma while I got our mother’s creativity.
“Let us vote, then,” Dad says, sounding less confident. He gives me a sympathetic look. I often wonder if Dad wishes he only had one kid. Someone with Jack’s ability to woo a crowd and my ability to come up with good plans.
“All those in favor of solar panels, say aye,” Dad says. The response is half-hearted. Only four people, including Sheila and Ali, say aye. The rest vote nay, and the motion fails.
After the meeting is concluded, Dad pulls me aside. “I’m sorry, son. It was a good plan. Bring it back in a couple years and I think it’ll pass.”
I nod and head back to my office. Emma smiles brightly.
“Hey, boss, how’d it go?”
I shake my head and her face falls.
“No. That’s not possible. How?”
I glance towards Jack’s office. He’s flirting with his beautiful new assistant. Not only did he win in the meeting, but he’s going to win over Melody, too. There’s no point in apologizing to her. She’ll forget about me before the day is over.
“We’re gonna get him,” Emma says, her voice bitter. “I’m determined.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “I hope so, Emma. In the meantime, let’s go over these new ad campaigns. We finally got proofs for the new fall flavor, and I need a second opinion.”
We disappear into my office, leaving my asshole brother and his gorgeous new assistant behind. I don’t need them. I can make changes to the company on my own, one ad at a time.
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