Awakening, 2nd edition

by Kuili, Ray N.

  Alan peeled a banana thoughtfully. These people are good. They know how to find the hot buttons of even the most inveterate cynics. And they know how to push these buttons. The people in this room may laugh and joke as if nothing has happened, but these words did sink into their minds, no matter how hard they try to pretend they don ’t care. They do. Joan , for example, is laughing and flirting, but back there she sat fully hypnotized and listened, listened . . . The Rule of Mask : never demonstrate your real feelings unintentionally.

  “ . . . Each one of you has been selected with the direct involvement of your company ’s CEO. By now , you understand why they chose to get personally involved in this matter. It ’s rather simple. They, of all people, know how important it is to invest in the future. And they know that the future s of their companies lie with you. They know that you are their successors. In ten years ’ time or less you will be making decisions that will have enormous impact on their companies. They understand very well that the task of leading a global corporation is impossible to accomplish without having the right people in the key positions. And they know who these people are going to be. You . The fact that you ’re sitting here today means that someone very important is betting on you. And betting big . . .”

  People around joked, laughed, gestured, asked to pass an orange, teased, smiled . . . They were having fun. But deep inside, beneath the smiles and lighthearted jokes, each of them must have been thinking the same thoughts. There was no way they c ouldn ’t have been . These words were impossible to ignore.

  “ . . . But you ’re not ready yet. You ’re at the beginning of a very long journey. Today you ’re only kids ; very talented, very gifted kids who may become true stars. Or may not. You are not ready to take on this kind of responsibility. Why, you may wond er. Because you are managers.” A t this point he went silent—he definitely was a master of protracted pauses.

  “Skillful, brilliant, experienced, but . . . managers. People on payroll paid to direct other people on payroll to ensure that everyone moves in the direction defined by someone at the top. This is the role you play today no matter how highly you think of yourself or your position. But becoming one of them will take more.

  “To become one of them you need to become a leader first. A true leader, who will be followed anywhere. And this is why you ’re here today—to become leaders. You can forget about rising high unless you make this transition. But you ’re in luck. As it happens, turning talented managers into leaders is our specialty. This is what we know, this is what we do , and this is what we ’re about to do with you .”

  Michael glanced askance at Alan. The cherub was musing over something and it wasn ’t hard to guess about what. All this heavy talk about power, global success and journey ing to the top of the pyramid had obviously had a n effect on him. And no wonder ; i t was obviously designed to achieve this effect. Somebody smart had spent long hours crafting these sentences, wordsmithing them, honing them to perfection. Indeed , most likely there was an entire team of professionals behind that speech. It was too shattering, too moving to be the work of a single man. These words ha d got to be the fruit of teamwork, along with the unorthodox marketing strategy, and the creative approach to establishing strong connections with the heads of major corporations. Everything, every tiny detail of this establishment , had been thought through and designed to have a stunning effect on participants.

  . . . It’s all right, you can open your eyes now. You ’re entering a top -secret training course known only to the real power players of this world . . . Now it is open to you , too. Just to you. Welcome to the inner circle, the ultimate breeding ground of the world ’s puppet masters. Take a look around. Say hello to your CEO. Give a nod to the media mogul whose name has been in the news for the last two weeks. Say hi to your state senator. Don ’t be shy ; you ’re an insider now. You ’re practically equals. That man over there? Could it be . . . Yes, you ’re right. Indeed, you ’re glancing at our country’s vice -president. And , look! He wants to talk to you . . .

  That’s the impression they ’re trying to create. And , boy, does it smell like a very cheap conspiracy theory. Especially if you assume that this lodge is not the only stronghold of the w orkshop. Not that anyone has explicitly mentioned senators and media moguls, but they have definitely worked hard to create a mindset where such assumptions would slowly and naturally crawl into one ’s mind.

  Not only words; the entire environment bears signs of professional work. Razzle -dazzle ‘em . . . The selection of this remote facility is anything but random. The show with questions and answers is anything but random. The view from this window is anything but random. Sit high and mighty, enjoy your food and the fresh feeling of being the masters of the universe. The feeling of being The Lords of the Corporations. What —you ’re not feeling like lords yet? No problem, we ’ll make a lord of you. That ’s why you ’re here . . .

  There’s something fishy about this whole setup. Nothing you can put your finger on and yet you can feel it. They are slightly overdoing it. Intentionally overdoing it. They want to blind us, to lure us somewhere . . . But why? For the moment, it is a question with no answer. But tomorrow will tell. The weird “everyone ’s on a power quest ” lecture will be over, the mysterious group exercise will begin and likely bring the answer. As for now , we can only wonder what they have in store for us. Some kind of mass hypnosis? Are we going to go th r ough it after lunch?

  But whenever the mass hypnosis was supposed to happen, it was not after lunch.

  “Let’s talk about interests, ” Clark proposed, making himself comfortable again on the edge of his table. “About personal and public interest, and how they may or may not blend together.”

  “Of cabbages and kings, ” Paul added in an undertone.

  “That would be fine , too, ” agreed Clark. “A conversation about kings in particular will end with the same question —w hich is, where do you draw the line between things you do for yourself and things you do for your company? Does anyone have an off-hand answer?”

  An off-hand answer was quickly presented by Kevin.

  “That’s easy, ” he said livel il y.

  Clark gave him an encouraging nod.

  “Whatever we do for the sake of business is for the company. Everything else is for us, ” went on Kevin.

  “Could you elaborate, please?”

  Kevin gazed at the ceiling. “Uhm, let me think . . . Sure. Suppose I need to produce certain results by a certain deadline. Whatever I do to achieve this goal is for the company. I could bribe and threaten people —not that I would ever do this —but if I were to, that would still be for the sake of the company. It ’s not that critical for me personally whether my people get this done on time or indeed whether they get it done at all. On the other hand, if I want a comfy chair and ask my assistant to get me one, that ’s for me and for me only. The company doesn ’t care.”

  “They just pick up the tab for your new ergonomic toy, ” Paul concluded.

  “They just pick up the tab, ” Kevin agreed.

  Clark nodded again.

  “Thank you. That is an interesting perspective.”

  It wasn’t clear whether he was referring to Kevin ’s answer or to Paul ’s addendum.

  “Anybody else?”

  “It’s not that simple, ” said Chris , giving Clark his signature open look.

  He turned to Kevin.

  “Think about it. Are you sure you don ’t give a hoot about delivering projects on time?”

  “I didn’t say I don ’t give a hoot.”

  “Okay, you meant it. But that ’s all right. We ’re all speaking off the record here, right, Clark?”

  Clark seemed to be pleased to hear this statement.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Still, I didn ’t say—”

  “Fine, you didn ’t, ” broke in Chris. “But you did say it was more important for the company than for you, didn ’t you? So, that ’s where I think it gets complicated.
Not even everyone in the trenches would agree with that statement. And these are mostly people who are loyal to their paycheck, not to the company. It ’s not black and white. There ’re things at stake that you ought to care about. Don ’t you agree with that?”

  Kevin looked at him somewhat sourly.

  “It’s your turn to elaborate.”

  “That’s what I ’m doing. Why do you need to deliver on time in the first place? Because you were told to do so. Why where you told to do so? Because the company needs it. Why does the company need it? Because if you deliver your stuff on time , it will make more money. We ’re talking basics here . . .”

  “So?”

  “So if the company makes more money , you make more money. Especially if you happen to have some stock, not to mention a potential promo tion and a nice bonus when you deliver on time. You do care about meeting deadlines —at least you should , I ’d say, ” Chris tightened his lips, “it ’s about fifty /fifty.”

  Kevin smiled back silently, his eyes remaining sour.

  “Nice approach, ” said Clark, when it became apparent that Kevin was not about to dignify Chris ’s comment with further responses. “Percentage . . . It ’s a good way to quantify it. More comments, anyone? All right, let ’s have a little exercise then. For this one you will have to work in pairs.”

  Paul heaved a sigh.

  “Please think of a situation when one of your colleagues did something supposedly in the best interests of the company, but in reality had some ulterior motive. I see some smiles, so I presume it won ’t be difficult for you to come up with some interesting examples. Once you recall all the juicy details , please relay your story to the person sitting on your right. In return, your partner will share with you a case when he or she did something strictly for the company ’s benefit with no personal agenda of any sort. Both of you are welcome to provide your feedback and ask questions. You have fifteen minutes for this exercise. Paul, I see that you don ’t have a partner. I ’ll be happy to keep you company.”

  “Do you want to go first?” asked Joan.

  “No problem, ” said Alex.

  He may not be so dumb after all , she thought, looking at him. From close quarters, you can sense presence of some IQ behind this granite facade. Nevertheless , he doesn ’t come even close to Chris. Now, there’s someone who has leadership in his blood ; i t ’s written all over him. Clark should ’ve asked us to turn to the neighbors seated on our left. But, on the bright side, it ’s much better than having to deal w ith that Kevin. What a character . . .

  Robert entered the bar and stopped at the door, letting his eyes grow accustomed to the dim light. There was definitely something inviting about this place. All the right elements were there: a cozy dark room, glittering ranks of liquor bottles on the shelves behind a polished bar, patches of warm light on the round tables, wine racks along the wooden walls . . . The merry company was already present, occupying three tables pushed together in the middle of the floor. Listening to the sounds coming from that direction it was easy to conclude that yet another level of bonding had been successfully reached .

  “Alex!” Joan ’s voice was full of mock concern. “How dare you tell that sort of joke in ladies ’ presence? Haven ’t you noticed that Stella and I are here?”

  “Just trying to top Stella ’s story, that ’s all ” answered Alex ’s low baritone without any signs of remorse. “Not sure if I ’m getting there , though —mine are too innocent for that.”

  “True,” Alan ’s voice was very supportive. “I ’m still blushing after what she said.”

  Robert smiled and went to the bar.

  “Right,” Stella ’s sarcastic voice said behind his back. “Look who ’s talking . . .”

  “What can I get you?” The bartender ’s manners combined professional confidence with unusual -for -his -occupation politeness. “Your friends over there keep ordering martini s . The drink of the night.”

  “Black Russian. Easy on the ice , please.”

  The bartender nodded approvingly and reached for the tall clear bottle.

  “Slow season?” Robert asked, watching the crystal stream of vodka pouring into the glass.

  “Thanks to you folks, ” the bartender responded, lifting the bottle.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You guys rent out the entire place. Invitation only, I gather.”

  He tilted the chocolate bottle of liquor over the glass.

  “And how often does it happen?”

  “You mean this thing? This is the third time so far. Could ’ve been more often as far as I’m concerned .”

  “Why is that? Easy work?”

  “It doesn’t get any easier than this . We ’re here for the first day only. Then you guys tell us to get lost for the rest of the week. It ’s like in one of th o se movies. We get paid for having fun for four days. First time I heard it I thought it was a joke.”

  He clearly was eager to share his knowledge of the matter.

  “The entire staff is out. The only people who get in are our chef and the waiters and even they can go in only once in a while. Last time they were allowed to go in for the second day only, then got kicked out for good.”

  “So you get paid your full salary? No catch?”

  “No catch, I ’m telling you, man. No catch. They make us sign something, like whatever I hear and see I swear to forget and that ’s it. Not that I ever heard anything here worth repeating. My buddies are drooling for this job.”

  “No wonder. Have fun then.”

  “I sure will. I ’ve made arrangements.” The bartender winked. “You take care.”

  Robert accepted a misty cool glass, looked around the bar again and headed for the far corner where Clark sat in the company of Ed.

  Ed, an open notebook in his hands , was briefing his boss on some subject. Clark listened to him attentively, but kept glancing from time to time at the jolly company.

  “May I?”

  “Most definitely, ” Clark gestured at the free chair with a welcoming smile.

  Ed nodded and, smiling at Robert, softly closed the notebook.

  “Boring,” said Robert, lowering himself into the chair.

  “Boring?” Clark questioned .

  “Vivid. Entertaining. Unusual. But boring. Too much ado.”

  A puzzled expression appeared on Ed’s face.

  “I assume our guest is referring to Much Ado about Nothing ,” Clark explained.

  “Precisely,” Robert slowly sipped at this glass. “You sure you want to listen to this now?”

  “But of course, ” Clark smiled again. “This is called constructive customer feedback. It ’s an opportunity for improvement. Don ’t deprive us of it.”

  “Then get ready to listen to your customer. Your customer is disappointed. What have you taught us today? A collection of facts I can easily find in a couple of psychology textbooks . A few points on management theory . Some excerpts from a typical MBA curriculum. A couple of historical anecdotes. That was probably the most useful part. The story about Morgan was particularly entertaining—I didn ’t know he did that sort of thing. But that was it. Short of that story, I didn’t hear anything worth memorizing. You spent the rest of the time praising us to the skies and trying for some reason to shock us with allegedly brutally honest statements.”

  “Why allegedly ?” Clark asked curiously.

  “Because there was nothing brutally honest about them. At the end of the day, what have you told me? That I like to be in control of my environment and want to succeed? As you can guess, I was well aware of this before coming here. That my management values me and is wagering on me? Glad to hear that but , still, hardly an epiphany. That I work for myself and not for my employer? More old news, although you worked hard to make us all say it out loud. What else? That the closer you get to the top , the worse the power struggles? Sorry to break this one to you, but you ’re late in telling me this by about seven to eight years. I ’ve been a manager long enou
gh to know how things are done. So what ’s the point? Is it just the fact that people don ’t usually mention things like this in management classes?”

  “Why not?” Clark responded.

  “For starters, there ’re many common -knowledge subjects that normal people don ’t discuss in public. And talking about them doesn ’t change anything. This works wonders for trash TV shows, but what does it have to do with a management class?”

  “There’re things that people don ’t discuss on TV, no matter how scandalous a show is. I ’m willing to bet that up until now , no one had ever told you what you ’ve heard today in our class.”

  “True,” Robert agreed easily. “So what? What if I told you that you ’d like to have sex with her, ” he motioned his head negligently towards laughing Joan. “It ’s true, isn ’t it? And no one had ever told you this to your face. So, did it help you somehow to hear that from me?”

  Clark smiled, looking at Joan.

  “Suppose you ’re right about this. Although you can ’t be certain—you simply don ’t have enough information.”

  “Fine, let’s say you ’re not interested. But Ed is , for sure. Today he couldn ’t help but stare. Ed, you ’re interested, aren ’t you?”

  Ed grunted vaguely and stretched his lips in a confused smile. It was obvious that he would welcome a change of subject.

  “See,” Robert sipped at his glass again. “Truth to your face. So what?”

  Clark ignored his assistant’s embarrassment.

  “That’s a nice example, but it ’s hardly convincing. By the same token you could ’ve referred to some physiological needs.”