Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 81252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
I knew how to be a little cutthroat when it came to business, but Brandon took things to a whole other level. He didn’t care about who he ran over in the process of getting to the top. Sure, I’ve crawled over people to get to where I was now, but I didn’t stomp on anyone’s face like he did. I actually had some limits, but he was certainly testing them.
“Just… get out. All of you,” I muttered as I shook my head. My jaw tensed as I rubbed my temple. I didn’t want to be around anyone right now, especially the people who were actively letting me down. No one would ever have my back more than I would. No one could be fully trusted.
Quietly, my board members gathered their things and stood from their chairs. They shuffled out of the conference room, not looking me in the eye as I stared down at the table. Once the conference room door swung shut, I uncurled my fingers. Crescent marks from my blunt nails adorned my palms, but I hardly felt the sting. The only thing that I could feel right now was anger and disappointment. I had put my all into this company and soared. Now, I was floundering in the air, nearing the ground. Eventually, I would crash and burn, and I would become nothing. I didn’t want to be nothing. I had worked so hard to become something.
My eyes gradually narrowed into a heavy glare. I would be damned if I let Brandon Krouse strip me back down to nothing. I would set Odyssey Business Consults on fire before I let that happen. From how things looked right now, I needed to go pick up some lighter fluid and a pack of matches.
I forced myself to venture back to my office. I wouldn’t get any work done sulking in the conference room. Someone had to make a difference, and it obviously wouldn’t be my useless board members. They were probably all sitting in their offices, twiddling their thumbs and staring blankly at their screens. I figured their big paychecks would motivate them a little more to do their jobs, but I was evidently wrong about that.
I shut my office door behind me, not wanting to be disturbed. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure where to start to turn things around. For so long, we had relied on our existing client base because they knew how good our work was. It seemed like that tactic wasn’t sustainable. We had to do something else.
If our “loyal” clients were going to jump ship, we either had to win them back or replace them. I needed to talk to Brittany. She had been my marketing mastermind for a few years, but I had been putting more emphasis on other departments lately. Basically, I benched her. Maybe it was time that I put her back in play and try to turn things around before it was too late.
A soft knock on my office door made my head jerk. A scowl broke across my face as I sat up in my office chair. I thought my closed door was hint enough that I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. I needed to invest in a sign that firmly and professionally told people to screw off.
“What?” I called out. This better be important. I had a plan to devise and then pull off. I was tired of staring at weak numbers and hearing a bunch of excuses from my board when we should’ve been doing way better than our latest performance.
Slowly, my office door swung open, and Molly, my assistant, poked her head inside of my office. “Sorry, sir. May I come in?” she asked me.
I waved my hand, motioning for her to come inside. I would make an exception for her since she probably had something important to tell me. She kept me on schedule, reminding me of all my meetings and interviews. Typically, if someone wasn’t part of my executive board, they went through Molly to reach me.
Molly strode inside, cradling her tablet close to her chest. Her hair was short and blonde, curving around the frame of her round face. She was quiet and attentive around me, but I had seen her zipping through the building at lightspeed to get things done. I wished that my executive board had as much drive.
“I have a message from HR for you,” Molly said as she reached into the pocket of her grey cardigan to grab an orange sticky note. She placed it on my desk in front of me before looking down at her tablet. “Bob Marsh wants to arrange a meeting with you. Tuesdays and Fridays are best for him.”
I listened to her reel off all of the latest updates. Some of it stuck in my mind. The rest of it went right out of the other ear. A bunch of people wanted to meet with me. Only the ones who mattered got the chance to. Luckily, Molly was pretty good at filtering through who was and wasn’t worth my time.