The Staircase of Dragon Jerico
Chapter Twenty
ERIN FOUND HERSELF at the center of the family confab, being interviewed in a way she had not anticipated. She thought it would be simple to have Mr. Jerico and Mrs. Carver agree to the plan to keep Preston as the head of the company.
“So, why do you think Preston should stay at the head of the table?” Lawrence asked.
“Are you doubting it, Mr. Jerico?”
“You have declared yourself willing to go before the board of directors and fight to have Preston retained as chairman and CEO. I want to know your rationale and how you will present that to the board. My rationale is obvious. He is my grandson and heir to the Jerico business and fortune. Why do you think he should stay at the head of the table?”
“I’ve worked with Mr. Carver for three months. In that time, I have had a more intense look inside an extremely creative mind than I believe anyone else in the company has had in the past ten years. He is not just creative, though. He is a problem-solver. He can look at a very large dataset and reduce it to actionable items. That’s the basis of a good manager. My experience with Mr. Duval, on the other hand, is that he is…” Erin cut herself off before blasting the company president.
“Go ahead and say it, Ms. Scott,” Jacqueline said.
“Mr. Duval is a valuable component in the corporate culture,” Erin said carefully. “He is a salesman and is capable of taking Mr. Carver’s ideas and selling them. But in my opinion, he is a vacuous imbecile who gets along on his smile and his backslap. He’s a womanizer, and he attempts to seduce his clients the same way he seduces women. But as far as the business is concerned, he hasn’t an idea in his head.”
“What about the idea for the golf course at the resort?” Lawrence asked.
“Something I am certain will be brought up at the board meeting,” Erin said. “Ms. Dirksen has already been vocal about what amazing foresight he had in spotting the weakness in the prospectus. But after looking into the matter further, I have arrived at the conclusion that the idea was actually Mrs. Duval’s, and that she arranged the meeting between her husband and the golf course developers to form a consortium. While a golf course will certainly be a draw for some people, it wouldn’t have been considered a first phase project if the consortium hadn’t proposed developing it themselves. There were other suitable plots in Cloudhaven that would have made equally good golf courses if developed later in the process. The payback Mr. Duval is expecting on his investment is overinflated. I do hope none of you gave him money for his project.”
“Ooh. I like that. Do you think any of the other board members have invested in it?” Preston asked.
“Possibly as a token. It’s hard to believe people at that level, who deal with money on a regular basis, could be so taken in by Mr. Duval. However, it also would explain why they are enthused about the idea of upscaling the project and trying to draw a more affluent clientele than we have projected,” Erin said, making a note to herself.
“How would you approach this differently than Duval would if the decision was thrust upon you?” Jacqueline asked.
“Well, the initial prospectus was good. The destination conceived by Mr. Carver suits the location perfectly. It does not overtax resources, for example—either natural resources or financial resources. The current prospectus represents years of planning and research. It would be foolhardy to change directions when we are about to break ground and throw the entire proposal back into early planning stages again. While I am always aware that new information can alter the execution of plans, I do not see any such new information on the table.”
“Very well,” Lawrence said. “I’ll give you my proxy. Jacqueline?”
“Yes. I’m in. However, Ms. Scott, I believe you should be prepared for a heated contest and you might need to make compromises you would not normally consider to accomplish the larger goals,” Jacqueline said. “Most especially, you need to be prepared for a personal attack on your character. Duval will try to position you as a mere secretary and will undercut your arguments, dismissing you as inexperienced and uninformed. Good luck.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
That’s a strange family, Erin mused at the end of the day. Even after they’d given her their proxies, they continued to quiz her on every aspect of the business. She had gone to the mansion to convince the three family members to attend the meeting and cast their votes. Instead, they had drawn up proxies and given her power of attorney to negotiate on their behalf. Even Preston had worked with her on areas of the project that could be compromised in order to make it look like they were giving ground to Duval and his cronies.
She wasn’t expecting that kind of authority, but it was in keeping with the responsibilities Preston had given her in his absence. She’d stopped on her way out to take another look at the dragon staircase. It was impossible not to. Somehow, the dragon seemed to represent the family’s mystery and adventure. One day, she would like to know more about it.
Once she was back in the office the next day, she took care of the usual daily tasks and settled in to compose her arguments to the board. While she had four votes in her hand, she was only one voice among six who would be in the room. She needed to win Hathaway over quickly and her arguments for how the voting should be done needed to be firm enough that Dirksen, the corporate counsel, had to abide by them. She could expect Reinholdt and Duval to be vocal in attempting to drown her out.
Hathaway was not only of her generation, but he had also been Carver’s best friend all the way back in high school or possibly before. It was odd to think of Mr. Carver as having friends. He seemed to be such a recluse. But she could certainly see Jerry having a select group of very good friends and was sure that more closely matched the man’s real personality.
She allowed herself a few minutes to think about her lunch with ‘the hoodie man,’ as her fellow waitresses had called him. She and Jerry had so easily suspended their office roles and simply enjoyed having lunch as friends. He was a good friend, and she was determined to be a good friend to him.
Erin was nervous and skipped lunch before the meeting. Her stomach did not want to settle down. This was more nerve-wracking than making the presentation to sell the resort concept. She knew why. She was alone. It would be so much easier if Mr. Carver would be sitting next to her. Or even if he’d been in the office this morning. Instead, she’d received four email messages from the four people she held proxies for, wishing her good luck.
She stood outside the boardroom door a minute before entering. She could see the other board members gathering, coffee cups in hand, acting as if the vote were a done deal. She squared her shoulders and went into the room.
The five board members in the room stopped to stare at her as she took her seat in Preston’s chair at the head of the table.
“Ms. Scott, this is a board meeting. Are you here to make a presentation like you did last month?” Ms. Dirksen asked.
“No, Madam Vice Chairman. I bear Mr. Carver’s proxy for the vote. It is necessary to keep him at the helm as he is the chief architect of the corporation. We have no design for Cloudhaven and no future projects without him.”
“Well, it’s not likely to do you much good, but we have to keep the business record clean anyway. Shall we vote to accept the slate of candidates for executive positions?” Dirksen said.
“No,” Erin spoke up. “The Corporate Bylaws dictate that election of officers and approval of senior executives must be individually nominated and voted upon. Mr. Carver pointed that out and insists that the board abide by the bylaws.”
“Are you really going to sort this out and make each individual make his preference known?” Duval asked.
“Yes, Mr. Duval. As there is an alternate slate of candidates submitted here by Mr. Carver, which holds discrepancies with the slate presented by Vice Chairman Dirksen, the vote must be tallied for each position. This will give shareholders the opportunity to express their preferences at the annual meeting when it comes to approving the slate of candidates for the board of directors.”
The board members shifted uncomfortably. Simply having a vote carry unanimously for the entire slate of officers provided anonymity that a roll-call vote would not have. There were a lot of family sympathizers among the shareholders of JeriCorp and Erin had just leveled a veiled threat that the family might present an entirely different slate of candidates for the board at the annual meeting. It would be bad form to appear to attack the family.
“Well, let’s start with Chief Financial Officer. The only candidate is on both slates. Are there other nominations? Those in favor of Leroy Masters as Chief Financial Officer, raise your hand.” She counted the hands quickly. “The nomination is approved and Leroy Masters is confirmed as Chief Financial Officer.”
Erin had not exposed her entire hand. When the vote was tallied, she simply raised her hand with the others and it was counted as Mr. Carver’s vote. The other three board members were counted as absent. Dirksen moved on to her own nominations and to those of Royce Duval. Finally, it came to the position of Chairman of the Board.
“I request a roll-call vote of all members,” Erin said. “And in that matter, I hold the proxies for Preston Carver, Lawrence Jerico, Jacqueline Carver, and Richard Vaughn. All four vote in favor of retaining Preston Carver as Chairman of the Board.”
“You’ve been a busy little beaver, haven’t you?” Duval asked disgustedly. “Well, your four votes are not a majority. We vote for the opposition. Oh. That’s me.”
“Not so fast, Duval,” Hathaway said. “Ms. Scott has shown us the family is not absent or unaware of what happens in the company. That means they may well be organizing a new board for approval at the annual meeting. Ms. Scott has shown decisiveness in gathering proxies, and I daresay, her campaign was driven by her boss, Preston Carver.”
“Are you voting against the rest of us and for Preston?” Dirksen asked bitterly.
“Maybe. I’ll propose a compromise that I believe will be acceptable to the family. I propose we retain Preston Carver as chairman, provided we have a new and decisive candidate for CEO.”
“You want to have Preston as chairman and me as CEO?” Royce said. “It seems silly, but I guess I’m okay with that.”
“No,” Hathaway said. “I’m sorry, Royce, but you just don’t have what it takes to run the company. The only thing we’ve ever complained about since Preston took over the reins is that he can’t function in a social or public environment. His management skills are exemplary. We need a CEO who can make decisions and execute them.”
“You have a nomination, Gene?” Dirksen asked.
“I propose we approve Preston Carver as continuing chairman of the board, under condition that we also accept the nomination of Erin Scott as our CEO.”
Erin caught her breath and sat back in the chair. What on earth is Hathaway playing at? I can’t be CEO!
“Are you out of your mind, Hathaway?” Reinholdt asked. He was the board member voting with the senior execs and was about the same age as Dirksen and Duval. He didn’t say much in meetings, but was a frequent golfing partner of Duval. “We don’t know a thing about her! I’d sooner have the company run by an orangutan.”
“Which explains your alliance with Duval,” Hathaway shot. “It’s not true that we know nothing about Ms. Scott. I investigated her thoroughly. Her former CEO at Allard Holdings had her on a fast track, grooming her for senior management. In her eight years there, she led her division to record profits and oversaw the expansion of the Cleveland Regional Center. Marriage brought her to Jerico City, and divorce brought her to JeriCorp. We are lucky to have her and should carefully consider what a merger with a company like Allard would look like.”
Erin just stared at him. The idea that she was leading Allard to JeriCorp for a possible merger was a shock to all the board members. It had never even occurred to her.
“I disagree,” Royce said. “We should be preserving our positions and company, not preparing it for a takeover.” He looked at his co-conspirators. They looked away and subtly shook their heads.
“It’s really up to Ms. Scott,” Hathaway said. “Will you accept this compromise? One vote for Preston Carver as Chairman of the Board and Erin Scott as CEO. I move this new slate.”
“I… did not come here looking for this,” Erin began as if she was talking to Mr. Carver. Then she sighed. “I cast four proxy votes in favor of Mr. Hathaway’s new slate of Carver and Scott.”
“That’s five in favor,” Hathaway said. “We made all the other candidate elections unanimous. Shall we do the same with this one?”
The other four board members raised their hands, though Duval looked daggers at Erin.
“Congratulations, Miss Scott,” Ms. Dirksen said in a sweet voice. “We’ll all be looking forward to your leadership. I don’t believe we need to revisit the plans for Cloudhaven in view of this decision. Meeting adjourned.”
Erin stepped back into the penthouse office and looked around. She wondered if she would have to leave it to execute her new responsibilities. She would need to meet with HR and find out what the salary and benefits of her new position were. If she survived her next meeting with Mr. Carver. She knew very well he could still fire her.
Since she’d taken her first college internship, Erin had dreamt of sitting in the corner office of a major corporation. She’d been fortunate to have exemplary bosses over the years—men and women who mentored and prepared her for authority and responsibility. When she was given the responsibility of opening a full regional office center in Cleveland, she’d happily taken the opportunity and proven herself more than capable. As a reward, she was named regional vice president.
Perhaps it had been too satisfying for her to reach that level. After her parents’ death and Bruce’s proposal, she started thinking about having a family and devoting herself to raising her children. It hadn’t been a difficult decision to leave her position and go to Jerico City with her husband.
She wondered if that was still her dream. She didn’t trust men easily these days. Perhaps in a few years, when she was satisfied with her life and success again, she would find a nice enough guy who would get her pregnant so she could raise her child. She didn’t need the man for anything else. She could easily consign Duval, Reinholdt, and Masters to the same mental flames she thought for her husband. All men.
Maybe not Carver. She thought she knew him pretty well after working for him for three months. What did she really know?
She wouldn’t be thinking about that for a while. She was now the Chief Executive Officer of a mid-size corporation. She needed to more fully understand the financial standing. She’d thought for some time that the Mackenzie project in St. Louis didn’t need to be a complete loss. In fact, Carver had directed the company foreclose on the property and acquire it out of receivership. They could proceed with the construction and either sell the building or lease it.
In fact, Hathaway had planted an idea. It was ridiculous to imagine she had come to Jerico City as a vanguard to prepare for a corporate merger. Allard was much larger and diverse in a different way than JeriCorp. But she wondered where they were in their westward expansion. They might well be ready for that new regional center in St. Louis. She would make a note to check into that in the next week.
She fixed coffee and went to sit on the sofa looking out over the rooftop patio. She hadn’t meant to take part of her boss’s job. It was a tradeoff. It was the only way she could preserve his position. Besides, she supposed it really didn’t change anything. Mr. Carver was still in charge as far as she was concerned. If she relayed his orders through her own office, it would be just like it was now. She’d been handling more and more of the daily job responsibilities anyway. She’d even initiated the planning document because it needed to be done. It was what an assistant should do. How on earth did any of his prior assistants function?
It had been an exhausting day. She decided to just close her eyes for a few minutes, and then she’d take care of preparing the penthouse for the return of her boss.
Comments
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
