Awakening, 2nd edition (10 page)

“So,” Chris asked cheerfully, carving his Chicken Marsala, “whose company is full of idiots? I think we changed the subject too quickly.”

“Let it go , ” Alex said good-naturedly. “It ’s anonymous after all.”

“It must’ve been you who wrote it , ” suggested Stella. “This is not the first time y ou ’ve brought this up.”

They all felt at ease by now. Lunch started in a subtly tense atmosphere filled with polite questions and cautiously worded comments. But it didn ’t take them long to lose the seriousness, to relax and progress rapidly to light irony and even some friendly teasing. It was hard to say whether it had happened so quickly because of Paul ’s sarcastic observations, Robert ’s tasteful and timely jokes, Michael ’s calm wittiness or Chris ’s boyish vivacity. Whatever the reason, in less than an hour , Brandon remained the only recipient of businesslike tone s . His slightly stern face with the thick mustache s made him look older than everyone else and kept others from crossing the boundaries of a business lunch when talking to him.

“No,” Chris sigh ed sadly, “I can ’t take credit for writing that note. Not that my work environment is free of idiots.”

“You can find them everywhere, ” Ross said with his benevolent smile.

Chris raised his finger.

“The question is , who ’s got more idiots than a healthy company needs?”

“A healthy company needs plain zero. Otherwise you have an unhealthy company.”

“Not so fast. Somebody has to create internal challenges. You lose that and your people get too relaxed.”

“Don’t underestimate the power of stupidity? Something like that?”

“Exactly. Alan, you got it right.”

“Why do you need internal challenges? Don ’t you have enough problems generated by external idiots?”

“The real external problems come from the smart folks, not from morons.”

“Say all you want, but someone is short of internal idiots. Why else would they go and hire all these bozos this poor person has to live with?”

“All right, all right!” Paul ’s voice rose above the chatter. “I wrote it. Happy now? So much for keeping it anonymous.”

“Really?” Charming dimples decorated Joan ’s cheeks. “Now we just need to get your company ’s name out of you. Imagine the market ’s reaction: ‘According to internal sources, the vast majority of PaulSoft ’s workforce are clinical idiots.’”

“They’re not clinical, ” Paul sighed . “That ’s the problem. If it were PaulSoft, they ’d be on the street as soon as I ’m back. By the way, I don ’t remember ever saying that I ’m in the software business.”

“Stop picking on him, ” Brandon proposed pacifyingly. “Let the man rest for a week.”

“Rest for a week? Perhaps you didn ’t listen carefully enough, ” objected Joan, dimples still adorning her cheeks. “We didn ’t come here to rest ; we ’ve gathered here to work. We are those who never rest. We ’re the material . Was that the word he used? Could you please pass me an apple ?”

Brandon reached unhurriedly for the mural vase with fruits.

“There’s work and there ’s work. But what the heck . . . Why are you so polite with me, by the way? I don ’t hear you ‘Could you please’-ing others.”

Joan looked as if she were on the verge of blushing.

“Umm . . . I thought . . . No good reason, actually.”

“Good,” Brandon passed her a bright -red apple. “Then drop it. I ’m not your grandfather, you know.”

Alan listened to this conversation with half an ear. Usually he adhered to a golden rule : Whenever you talk to a potentially useful person, you must make a good impression.
The Rule of Charm , as he called it. There were other rules , too. The Rule of Silence : Don ’
t speak too much.
The Rule of Speech : Don ’
t speak too little.
The Rule of Stupid Promise : Never promise what you can ’
t possibly accomplish.
The Rule of Rock : To promise is to deliver. The Rule of Open Eye : Don ’
t let a single opportunity to sneak by you.

And many more—a total of thirty -six. He came up with this set of rules back in school, some in collaboration with Larry and Tim, but mostly on his own. And although the times of misguided youth, as he liked to refer to that period, were gone for good, he still held on to this set, not letting it go ; like an old, chipped, but robust and battle-tested weapon. Sometimes he made fun of this prolonged habit, sometimes he thought the rules sounded childish —but nevertheless he kept using them day after day. And he believed firmly that his success to date was in part grounded in this comprehensive internal code of laws and his unconditional observance of its every rule.

But at this particular moment, The Rule of Charm was being completely defeated in its hopeless struggle with a tsunami-like wave of uncontrollable thoughts. The information that this confidently speaking man had poured out on them this morning was too shattering, too overwhelming for any rules to hold their ground. It was as if the sweet languishing dream—that ambition -filled dazzling dream he had been dreaming all his adult life—had suddenly come true. The words that Clark spoke so intensely this morning bloomed in his mind like exotic tropical trees, covered by unimaginable flowers.

He knew, of course, that some day success—real success—would come to him. But never did he expect this success to come so soon and to be so intoxicating.

“ . . . You are the material from which the lords of the corporations are made. You are those who some years later will replace today ’s rulers of the business world. You are those who at some point in the future will steer the global economy. It won ’t be the Ivy League and Oxbridge graduates. It won ’t be the inheritors of old money. It won ’t be your current bosses.

“It will be
you —those who ’
ve been obsessively seeking power—who sooner or later will manage and control thousands and thousands of people. This is what makes you truly different . This is what doesn ’t let you stop . This is what has been driving, pushing, dragging you forward. You may like or dislike the business you ’re in . You may be an expert or mediocre specialist . You may or may not realize why you ’ve been striving to get ahead. But whether you realize it or not, you were gifted with something that one day will elevate you very high, to those levels of the social pyramid that only few, very, very few ever reach . . .”

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.