At the age of 19, Paul inherited the vast empire of his father Felix. When Felix reached Stage 4 cancer of the liver, he told the large 30-member board of Galactica Enterprise that he was bequeathing the helm to his teenage son. This was amid violent objections. For how could an inexperienced teenage boy, even from the prestigious Weston School of Economics in London, ran a vast complex holding company with seven subsidiaries? Felix got his way.
eastwind journals
‘True Tales’ Series – Volume 26
September 12, 2023 – Archives tr342
By Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
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Heading towards the first board meeting of his life, Paul gripped the rosary in his pocket in total fear. As soon as he did, his fear instantly vanished and he became as cool as a cucumber, ready to face the hostile board.
PAUL. (With unflinching authority but with a gentle smile). Meeting come to order please. (The whispers die down into a deadly silence).
RICHARD. (EVP who coveted Paul’s position). Aren’t you too young to pilot this large tanker?
PAUL. Watch me, Richard.
RICHARD. (With polite irreverence.) Your Weston credentials won’t help you.
PAUL. Sure, my wisdom is still theoretical not yet experiential. But not for long. You just have wait, Richard. Be patient.
ABE. (an old guard, VP for Finance, best friend of Felix.) I vehemently agree with Richard.
CORA (VP for Operations, middle-aged but still attractive). So what do you preach, Sir Paul?
PAUL. Hello, Cora. I’m glad you are one of the 5 female board members. This male-dominated board needs women for balance. Women are refreshing in a macho world. Women are often better in crisis management than men. I am forming a core group and you will be the crisis management expert. This company will take the paradigm shift advocated by Steve Jobs, namely, ‘love marketing’. Steve, who had no college degree, was booted out Apple, which he founded, by his Harvard-trained board for his ridiculous ‘love marketing’. After 20 years, the board pleaded for him to rescue the firm. He launched the bombshell ipod that catapulted Apple to the high heavens once more, based on ‘love marketing’. What’s the first in our agenda, Nicole?
NICOLE (VP for Corporate Affairs, youngest board member, extremely attractive and an aggressive go-getter) Sir, first in the agenda is the merger of Galactica with Eastwood which your dad violently opposed. But now that he is gone, the pro-mergers are back. Charlie, can you expound on this, please.
CHARLIE (an old guard in the board). In a few words, there is strength in unity. The merger means growth for Galactica. We need Eastwood’s expertise to widen our product base.
PAUL. What do you say, Abe?
ABE. The issue for your dad was not growth or profit but corporate sustainability. He had the right, as founder, to keep Galactica pure. However, Galactica, without a merger, will go stagnant soon, in my view.
RICHARD. The merger will make us the largest conglomerate in the East Coast.
PAUL. Size is not the issue. Let’s not over-debate. Let’s have a vote.
The vote, the second, was the same as the first, overwhelmingly no to the merger. Paul knew this all along.
PAUL. Thank you for respecting my dad’s wishes. Next in the agenda please, Nicole.
NICOLE. Sir, the core group.
PAUL. Oh yes, I am forming a 7-member core group called Hydra, the seven-headed monster. It will be my alter-ego. It will be the venue for me to rapidly shift from theoretical to experiential wisdom. Hydra will have the power to decide and report to the board. The members I have selected are – myself, Cora, crisis management expert, Nicole, secretariat and research, pro-merger advocates Richard, Abe and Charlie. One more to go.
RICHARD. You chose your enemies for your inner circle?
PAUL. I see no enemies, only friends who are brave enough to speak out, which I admire. I am hosting a poker party this Sunday at my house. The entire board is obliged to attend. Nicole, I want red meat, red lobsters, red wine.
NICOLE. And red napkins.
PAUL. Great. The best poker players in this group, according to my dad, include Richard, Abe, myself, and of all people, Francesca. (The diminutive Francesca, VP for Public Affairs, rises and bows.)
CORA. Why poker, Sir?
PAUL. A good manager is measured by his poker skills – ability to size up a situation, to balance risks versus safety, knowledge of probabilities, ability to assess opponents and bluff, all in a matter of seconds. To the best three, I award $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000. (There is an uproar.) There will be a poker party every quarter. Unless there is an objection, meeting is adjourned.
The board members gathered around Paul, congratulating him. His enemies, the pro-merger old guards, became instant friends. He gained total instant charisma. He used quarterly poker parties to achieve corporate harmony.
Galactica earned millions from a measly investment of regular poker parties. The new guys who just learned poker were challenging the vets. Poker became a corporate culture. Paul gained fame and was featured in the Wall Street Journal as the ‘Teenage Tycoon of the Century”. Asked in the interview what was his secret, he simply raised his rosary without saying a word.
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