Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Embarrassing as hell.
We’re the premiere analysis company and we’ve been spied on and infiltrated—after one of our own analysts produced a seminal report on how to avoid such a situation. That’s what got the old guy fired. Well, not really. At this level of the game, you get asked to retire—not fired. Unless you’re too stupid to read the signs. He wasn’t. I understand he’s been working on his golf game.
Forcing him out was hard for our Managing Partner to do. They’ve been friends for almost forty years. But technology had passed the old guy by. He couldn’t keep up—let alone compete. His quarterly updates on our technology center were a farce. He had started having his staff make the updates. Many of them weren’t much better. Maybe they were purposely trying to embarrass him. I knew two years ago that he couldn’t even understand the analyses we produced. That’s when the countdown started.
Should he have been summarily fired? Maybe so. But he has many good friends among our client base. Our MP had to—and did—proceed with wisdom. I live for the challenge, so when asked to step into the job, I did—just in time for it all to hit the fan.
Game on.
Filed under: Sparks by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « People - power - Sparks - technology »
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Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Make the bits fly, the disks spin. That’s what I do. There isn’t a computer I can’t hack, a network I can’t intrude. Lucky for you, I’m one of the good guys. The Deadly Elite call me their Girl Friday. Actually, there’s more than just me. My cadre of fellow technologists are the backbone of our security operations. The agents in the field depend on us for real-time intelligence and analysis. We’re pretty good at what we do. Scratch that – we’re awfully damn good.
It’s getting to the point where the demand for our services threatens to exceed our ability to rapidly respond. Adding people will make our group too large and unwieldy for real-time ops. That is unacceptable. To be good, we have to be agile. To be agile, we have to be small.
I understand there’s a killer app coming our way. Using it will automate much of our tedious grunt work; freeing us up to do far more with the team we already have. Zero growth. I like it. Means zero layoffs if times get slow. The analyst who built it is supposed to be smarter than I am. Fat chance. I smell a competition. Bring it on!
Filed under: Sparks by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « People - Sparks - technology »
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Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
It’s not my fault.
It was my grandfather who squandered our inheritance, and he did it long before I was born. Still, I’m tainted by his failures just like all the rest of his descendants. On the other hand, his brother parlayed his fortune and now his children and grandchildren are growing it even more. Most of us still live in the same coastal town—the one that my great-grandfather built. Everyone knows who we are: the poor relations of the founding family. Looked down on by those who don’t even have as much as we do.
My great-uncle’s descendants sail; we work in the restaurants on the dock. They own many of the buildings on Main Street; we rent a couple of them out and try to make a living in the tourist trade. They live in the hills above the town; we live in a few of the small row houses off Main Street, contending with wayward tourists who think our homes are part of the attraction.
I broke the mold and went to college on a sailing scholarship. Got my Master’s Degree. I wouldn’t even be in this town, except that I’m honor-bound to help my mother and sister. As soon as my sister has graduated from college, I intend to talk my mother into selling the little house we grew up in so that we can make a fresh start somewhere else.
The other side rarely has anything to do with us, but now, one of them needs my help. Of course, he wants me to do something underhanded. Almost—well, it is—illegal. But if I do it, he’ll bring me in to his side of the family—and I’ll bring along my mother and sister. Maybe even help some of my cousins if I can—the ones who haven’t given up. We can escape three generations of disdain and disrespect. There’s more at stake for us than the consequences of breaking a few laws.
I have to do it.
Filed under: Sparks by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « People - power - Sparks »
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Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Intelligence. Dedication. Integrity.
All admirable qualities, but they’re for saps. The only way to get ahead is to run with the big dogs, and I’m running with the biggest, baddest of them all. He’s already gotten me into executive management, and as long as I watch our backs, or do a job here and there that advances both our careers, I’ll always be just one rung below him on the ladder to the top.
Screw being loyal to the corporation. They haven’t been loyal to their employees since they entered the global market. It’s every man for himself now—and women need to just get out of the way.
We work to profit ourselves. Get in, take out the weak on the way to the executive suite, make some serious green, get out. Green is my favorite color by the way. It’s the only color that matters – other than our preferred way out – the golden parachute. To be honest, the parachute is also made of green. Nobody cares whether a person is black, white, brown or whatever. We only care whether you’re in our way.
Sooner or later, the idiot investors will get wise and the game will have to change. I’ll be long gone by then. I only need eight figures—enough cash to insure a long and leisurely life doing exactly what I damn well please.
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Tags: « abusiveness - People - power - Sparks »
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011
Something’s afoot.
Our Managing Partner is even more reserved than usual. There’s hectic activity in the other partners’ offices and their administrative assistants are on high alert. No one is available to switch through the reception desk. I’m the best gatekeeper, but I miss the variety of caring for the partners now and again.
The worst rumor is that the Green Eyed Monster is on the prowl. It must be true – his admin looks frayed. She’s needed several afternoons off lately. The word is that his prey is the new junior partner. That’s unfair—this is only his first week. Our star analyst has also been absent a lot recently. When I do see her, she looks as though sleep is merely a memory.
Whatever’s going on, it’s big. My lobby is now mostly visited by couriers, messengers, or delivery staff from restaurants or caterers. The only other visitors I’m now getting are cold-calling solicitors. Stringing them along is tons of fun, but still, I want to know what’s going on with the partners. Since no one of note is coming through the front doors now, their private elevators must be getting a workout.
I could have sworn I saw a tall man in uniform the other day. He looked exactly as I pictured the hero in the romantic thriller I’m reading. He instantly disappeared so it was probably my overactive imagination. Too bad. He was gorgeous.
Whatever it is, I’ll find out soon enough – someone eventually tells me everything. The analysts have never been able to hold a secret for long. I rarely see the partners in the lobby, but their admins let something slip now and again.
Ah… here comes a few of our finest back from lunch, just in time to walk past my homemade chocolates. I’m sure they’ll stay for a chat.
Filed under: Sparks by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « curiosity - People - Sparks »
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Thursday, September 1st, 2011
My cousin is the analytical, level-headed one. I have the reputation of being a hot head. Neither is strictly true; but enough so that when he interrupted our extended vacation with words like “Armageddon” and ‘annihilation” it would have been absurd not to take notice.
This is the same man who described the Dotcom Crash of 2000/2001 as “an adjustment in the technology sector toward equilibrium”. Once he laid out the current story – and I controlled my temper – it was clear that once again, he had exercised his penchant for understatement.
I’m chafing to be back home at the helm where I belong. I had started backing away, allowing our children the space to run the family business. I suppose I shouldn’t call them children now. The youngest is thirty-two and the oldest is almost fifty. They’re the greatest rewards of our fifty plus years of marriage. This vacation was intended to give them six months without me. They’ve barely had three. They are doing a hell of a job and my cousin is a stellar advisor, but I won’t allow them to face this alone. This crisis needs both of us – all of us.
Before I head home, I need to spend time here, covertly alerting the European branch of the family, as well as long-time clients and partners who live or are vacationing on the Continent. Doing so delays my departure, but gives my cousin time to rid his firm of infiltrators and prepare the board for what’s coming. It also gives me time for long-term strategic planning. The financial sector of our economy is running amuck and they must be stopped. The best of us don’t need rules and regulations. We understand the principle of sowing and reaping. The worst of us care only to reap – leaving barren, distressed land behind as they move on to the next fertile plot. Soon, the availability of ‘next fertile plots’ will diminish. Greed, in the end, fails even the greedy.
It is to control the behavior of these latter day gluttons that we need rules. Imposition of those rules is going to be a nasty, prolonged conflict in both the private and public sectors of our nation. Those of us on our board have to be involved in the discourse of reshaping the business environment. Not by choice, but because the size of our holdings demands it. Participate or lose – those are the choices.
The waters ahead are uncharted and fraught with disturbances the likes of which we have not yet seen. Good thing we’ve got Sparks to help us navigate. I understand it’s a killer app. It had better be. We’re going to need it.
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Tags: « fury - People - power - Sparks »
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Friday, August 26th, 2011
I’d like to thank my cable/internet company for causing me to miss my scheduled blogging window last night, and giving me a vacation. Although I could post today, I’ll be imposing on a different part of my schedule. So I’m taking the week off and will post this week’s post next week. For my vacation, I’m enjoying Stephen King’s Mile 81. Enjoy your week, and see you next Thursday!
Filed under: OnWriting by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « blogging »
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Thursday, August 18th, 2011
Infiltrators shall not victimize our firm.
Employees and their families depend on our leadership. There have always been predatory corporations; those that see a business they want and think that it’s just another cog they can force into their wheel. Usually they don’t take the time to understand the nuances and details of running the business. When it fails to fit or generate expected revenue – mainly because they eliminated those who best understood it – they break it apart and sell off the pieces in an effort to recoup their investment.
Meanwhile consumers lose products that they liked. Employees lose their livelihoods. Communities lose a source of income that had driven other businesses. That shall not happen here. We have uncovered the predator’s first step.
I don’t know how they delivered the virus to our network. But now that it’s been discovered, we are tracing back to its origin. It is only a matter of time until we find the source – and go after the SOBs who planted it. This is war.
Our situational awareness is heightened. I am not in this to win a skirmish or even a battle. The only satisfactory outcome is to deal the perpetrators a crushing defeat. Then – shall we retaliate? Not my thing. Not because I’m above it, but because I plan to leave nothing to retaliate against.
Annihilation; no mercy, no remorse.
Filed under: Sparks by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « fury - People - power - Sparks - turbulence »
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Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Cross every ‘t’, dot every ‘i’; everything in it’s place. Then I see divergence, and know if for what it is – something that doesn’t belong. Unfortunately at present, there’s too much that doesn’t belong. I see the symptoms, but not the source. It all appears to be interconnected. But I have to dig deeper. It’s not enough merely to be vigilant. We’re at the top of the mountain – enemies can come at us from all sides. We have to get to the source so that we can anticipate their moves.
I was born to this – but in the wrong family. My parents are both doctors. My uncle is the industrialist. His daughter’s interest was medicine. They swapped us – in terms of educational oversight. She and I both got the best of both worlds. Now I’m following in my uncle’s footsteps until I learn enough to forge a path of my own. It’s the family way. That’s what keeps us relevant; no matter the ease or difficulty of the times. A good thing because these are dangerously difficult times.
Families and corporations who have built fortunes over hundreds of years stand to lose it all in seconds. The market is crazy; worse than a gambling den. Taken over by speculators who care nothing about the history of an industry, the people who built it, or those whose livelihoods depend on it. They trade merely to skim the spread. Brokers create new investment instruments daily; many of them having value only as transactional income generators for their brokerage.
Everyone is vulnerable, including us. It’s the snake oil salesman all over again – but this time, the snake oil can cost billions. We got lucky. We found out what’s coming. But I still got blown off my feet. She’s a divergence I didn’t expect. I don’t know how to make a place for her. She won’t stay where I can take care of her; protect her. I hadn’t expected love to be like this. It isn’t logical.
I can’t figure out the rules…
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Tags: « conflict - heart - People - power - Sparks »
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Thursday, August 4th, 2011
Destined to be just another clock-punching laborer as were my father and his, I clawed my way into a different reality. Shunning their day to day tedium; I refused to live a life, the monotony of which was soothed only by a beer or something stronger on Friday nights.
Odd for someone from the Midwest, swimming was my passion. I craved the solitude and peace attained from immersion in the water. The pool kept me sane; kept me believing that I had a chance to propel my way through life just as I propelled myself through the water to the finish line. The double advantage of my athletic and academic prowess got me into the Ivy League. I didn’t look back.
At Yale, I got my first taste of power. I learned that it was power that had gotten me to the Ivy League in the first place – the unbeatable combination of brains and brawn. I used it to my advantage. It didn’t hurt that I am reasonably good-looking. Girls especially liked my green eyes.
I later found out that those who feared me, referred to me as the Green-Eyed Monster. My friends called me Trip. Not because of the Roman numeral three behind my name (yes – the lower classes pass their names along too), but because I was a Triple-Threat. A terror in the classroom, a terror in the pool, and a terror in bed.
My wife has no illusions. We both know that she married me because of where I could take her. An amicable arrangement. She gets what she wants; I do as I choose. What I choose is to accumulate power – and to wield it.
I’m a heartbeat away from the most powerful seat in our industry – and it too is merely a stepping stone to the power beyond. I deserve to be at the top. I’ve been dealt the best hand. It may look as though I’m risking it all, but instead, I stand to gain it all. I’m the one with the brains, the intimidation factor and the nerve.
Triple-threat. Unbeatable.
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Tags: « abusiveness - People - power - Sparks »
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