The Insiders
ALSO BY CRAIG HICKMAN
Fiction:
An Innovator’s Tale
The Strategy Game
The Organization Game
The Productivity Game
Starting Up
Non-fiction:
The Oz Principle
Mind of a Manager, Soul of a Leader
Creating Excellence
The Workbook for Creating Excellence
Management Malpractice
The Fourth Dimension
The Future 500
Practical Business Genius
This book is a work of fiction. Though some names, characters, incidents, and dialogues are based on historical record, the work as a whole is a product of the author’s imagination.
Copyright © 2012 by Craig Hickman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Cover art “The Beholder” by April Varner, used by permission.
Author Photo by Steven Seelig, e2Photography, LLC
ISBN: 1-4392-1604-5
ISBN-9781439216040
eBook ISBN: 978-1-62111-561-8
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
4 Inflight – Air Ambulance MD-90
5 Quinn – O’Hare Airport, Chicago, IL
6 Vargas – Boeing 767, Inflight
8 Tate – St. Moritz, Switzerland
9 Tate – St. Moritz, Switzerland
13 Tate – St. Moritz, Switzerland
19 Emily – Logan Airport, Boston, MA
34 Wilson – Charter Jet G650, Inflight
37 Wilson – Charter Jet G650, Inflight
40 Emily – Learjet 60, Inflight
42 Emily – Learjet 60, Inflight
44 Emily – Eastern Seaboard, North America
51 Emily – Teterboro Airport, NJ
59 Emily – Boothbay Harbor, ME
67 Carter – Lake Geneva, Switzerland
“This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations.”
PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, 1888
“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.”
PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 1912
“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the government of the U.S. ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.”
PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, 1933
“From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? … We as Americans have the capacity now, as we’ve had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.”
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, 1981
“Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure—one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”
DAVID ROCKEFELLER, 2002
(Grandson of John D. Rockefeller and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich)
“Let’s never forget: Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules deserve a government and financial system that do the same. It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom. No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.”
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, 2012
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Wall Street Billionaire Charged with Murder
By CATHERINE ROGERS and GRAHAM NGUYEN Monday, February 21
SUN VALLEY, ID – Charles Fielder, the billionaire whose consulting firm Fielder & Company is credited with launching more IPOs on Wall Street than any other firm, was found shot in the head in his private ski chalet at a family-owned resort in Sun Valley, ID, on Sunday afternoon. His unconscious body was found lying alongside two unidentified women with fatal gunshot wounds.
The deaths of the two women were confirmed by the Sun Valley Police Department, which said the women were in their late twenties; both had been shot in the head at point-blank range. Mr. Fielder was taken to St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center in Ketchum, ID, where he is still in a coma. Police received an emergency call at 2:18 p.m., Sunday afternoon, from White Horse Resort management, informing them of the gruesome discovery. According to the Sun Valley PD, Mr. Fielder has been charged with murder in what is described as a double murder-suicide attempt.
Daniel Redd, a lawyer for the Fielder family, said that Mr. Fielder was meeting with clients and associates at the White Horse Resort in a company retreat over President’s Day weekend. “This is a terrible tragedy, and the family expects Charles to be fully exonerated,” Mr. Redd said. “The family will be making no further statement at this time.”
Assistant SVPD Chief John Zemke, who is in charge of the case, said that the investigation into the shootings and deaths would remain open for the foreseeable future, a routine course of action in cases where victims remain unidentified. “The Fielder chalet at White Horse has been secured and detectives are currently on the scene,” Zemke reported on Sunday evening.
Mr. Fielder is founder and chairman of Fielder & Company, a respected management consulting firm with revenues over $1 billion and just under 1000 employees operating from offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, London, and Hong Kong. The company has over 500 active clients worldwide; the company’s fees per consulting engagement range from $1 to $10 million. Only McKinsey & Company exceeds Fielder & Company’s portfolio of management consulting services targeted toward senior executives of large multinational corporations.
A native of Boston, Mr. Fielder sold his family’s business in agriculture and chemicals in 1985 to launch Fielder & Company, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both prominent Boston business innovators who built thriving corporations. Forbes estimates Mr. Fielder’s fortune at $10 billion, putting him in the top 100 of the world’s richest people.
Like many wealthy families, the Fielders are well known for their business success and philanthropy but tirelessly strive to avoid the limelight. According to friends and clients, Mr. Fielder took great pride in
The Wall Street Journal’s
designation of Fielder & Company as “the most secretive consulting firm in America.” Mr. Fielder’s wife Mary and children Wilson and Rachel were unavailable for comment on Sunday evening.