Part of the reason Lydia felt so comfortable submitting Oscar as a candidate without his permission was that he never said he didn’t want to do it; he only insisted that he would never be chosen for the task. To Lydia’s dismay, his prediction quickly proved correct. Various board members spoke up, saying that his ideas were non-conformist and anti-institutional and therefore not marketable. They pointed out that he was actually attacking the very institutions they would be relying on to support the book. They also mentioned that he didn’t have a particularly marketable appearance.
Lydia knew that if they were half as critical of Zack as they were of Oscar, all of her pre-emptive confidence would be for nothing, but much to her surprise, the first comment was actually positive.
“There’s something I like about this guy,” said one of the board members carefully.
“He certainly seems to be a man with a bright future,” said another.
“With this audience, one has to walk a fine line between edgy and rebellious,” said Gerald, “and I think this young man has found a way to do that.”
“I think we can all agree that this is our most attractive candidate.”
With that Soleil glanced over at the photo on top of the profile the man beside her was reading. “He is cute!” she exclaimed.
As the conversation continued, Lydia looked around the room. She couldn’t believe what was happening. At first she had been hiding her fear and anxiety and now she found herself suppressing her happiness.
“We’d really like this process to go quickly,” said Gerald, involving Lydia in the conversation again. “Can this gentleman get started right away?”
“Absolutely,” she said, not having to fake confidence this time. “In our correspondence he told me that his weekend speaking schedule keeps him busy and he has a part-time course load at the seminary, but he is excited about this opportunity and he’s assured me that he is ready to start immediately if he were to be chosen. I should also add that he has proven himself to be quite prompt with regard to deadlines.”
Gerald took one last look around the room then said finally, “Okay, Miss Phillips, we’ll go with Mr. Mackenzie. I trust you’ll get everything in line quickly.”
“Yes sir, I will.”
“Good. You can go now, but I’ll talk to you afterwards about your development team.”
Lydia hadn’t expected the meeting to go this well or this quickly. She hadn’t needed to use any of the extra arguments against Reverend Ballard that she had prepared, or her logic behind the importance of having a young face on the book cover. She hadn’t even had a chance to eat one of the muffins that she had brought from the bakery.
When she arrived at her desk Lydia decided that she was entitled to a little coffee break of her own. She resisted the urge to quickly send a rejection letter to Reverend Ballard and instead hopped in her car and headed toward her favourite nearby shop. From experience and having looked at the agenda, she knew that all of her immediate superiors would be in that meeting for at least the next hour so no one would mind or even notice her absence. She would celebrate more after work, but this little trip was at least a small outlet for her joy. If nobody else would do it for her, Lydia would at least reward herself.
She returned forty-five minutes later to start writing some of the letters that would soon need to be sent. Her excitement had subsided a little but it was being buoyed again by the sugar and caffeine she had just consumed, making it hard to concentrate.
She sent a quick note to Zack confirming that he had been selected and asking when he could come in and fill out some legal documents and contracts. She was almost done drafting up a kind letter of regret to her first four candidates, certainly kinder than the one she wanted to write to Reverend Ballard, when the boardroom doors opened.
A few of the board members were chatting with Gerald while a few others headed for the restroom. Soleil emerged, smiling and shaking hands with a few of the men near the door. She looked in Lydia’s direction and began walking toward her.
“Congratulations, Lydia!”
“Thanks, but it looks like your part of the meeting went well too,” said Lydia surprised to see both Soleil and the various board members looking happy at the end of one of these meetings.
“You could say so. I’ve signed a contract for two more books.”
“That explains why they’re in such a good mood,” said Lydia, gesturing toward the board members still milling about, “but why are you so happy?”
“Let’s just say that the book sales have convinced them to be fairly generous.”
“Good for you! What’s the next one going to be about?”
“I’ll be writing the next one jointly with my husband. It will mostly follow the format of the last book, except we’ll be giving advice about marriage.”
“I can’t say I’ll need to read that for a while,” Lydia said wryly, “but that sounds like a fun project for you two.”
“Yeah, I think we really needed something like this. I’m looking forward to it.”
“So for this marriage book, who’s going to be the head of the development team?”
“They’re still trying to figure that one out,” Soleil explained. “I suggested you, since I’m so comfortable working with you …”
“Oh thanks, Soleil.”
“… but they raised a good point, saying that since you’ve never been married, you don’t have enough familiarity with the subject matter.”
“I won’t even pretend to contest that.”
“Luke said he was up for the job, but I insisted that, in the same way, his two divorces disqualify him.”
Lydia let out a giggle, then quickly looked around to see who could hear their conversation. “You said that?” she asked.
“You can say anything in a business meeting as long as you tie it to profit margins and viability.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” said Lydia, not sure if that was the business model she necessarily wanted to emulate. “So what now?”
“My husband and I are going to take some of this advance money and go to Europe for a few weeks. Then, in two months when your project goes off to the printers, ours gets started.”
Lydia hadn’t yet discussed a timeline with Gerald, and even though two months was in keeping with what she would have expected, it still sounded really short when Soleil said it out loud like that.
“Oh, I think Gerald is trying to get your attention,” said Soleil.
Sure enough, he was waving in their direction. Lydia waved back and nodded and then started to get ready to go.
“Looks like he wants to have a quick meeting with you before he and the boys go out for lunch,” said Soleil. “I’ll let you go then,” she added, “Congratulations again.”
“Send me a postcard from Europe.” Lydia’s papers were still piled beside the computer, untouched since the meeting, so she quickly picked up the stack and headed to the boardroom to speak with Gerald.
“Have you been in touch this morning with Mr. Mackenzie?” he asked, looking at his paperwork to remind himself of the name.
“I’ve sent him an email, but haven’t heard back yet.”
“Okay, if you don’t hear back in a few hours, give him a call. I’d like to have those contracts signed and in my hands in by the end of the day, if possible.”
“Got it,” she said, scribbling a note in her planner.
“Now, I have been putting some thought into your development team as well, Lydia.”
“Great,” she said without realizing she had interrupted her boss, “I have too.”
“Here is a list of names,” he said, sliding a sheet of paper across the table, “I’d like you to contact them and assemble a committee of five from those who express interest.
“I’ve already been contacting a number of people,” said Lydia, trying to maintain her composure.
“Are they on that list?”
“Some of them are, yes.”
“Good, t
hen use those.” This was a game Gerald had played before; speaking in a crisp and confident manner conveyed his level of seriousness.
“According to the policy manual, as chair of the team, I am supposed to be consulted in the selection of the other members. I’ve already done a significant amount of work selecting and contacting these people.” Lydia handed her list to Gerald. She had listed all the people she contacted, their qualifications, and responses. She had put it together for her own analysis, but it was pretty handy for this setting as well.
Gerald took the list, but before putting on his glasses to read it, he set out to explain himself clearly. “You can consult the list, and if more than five people express interest, you can choose. You should consider yourself quite fortunate to be in the position you are in. I know it would be easier if you could pick all of your friends, but if the publishing process is easy, the book will be terrible. I know you and Soleil had some disagreements with Luke, but it is those struggles that made that book the success that it is.” Then, quickly glancing over the list, he asked, “is there one person in particular on this list you think deserves a spot more than the others?”
“If I had to pick one,” Lydia said, not at all prepared for this negotiation, “I would say Oscar Brandt.”
“Isn’t he the other candidate you suggested this morning? Don’t you think he would resent being second best?”
“Not at all,” said Lydia, hiding the real reason, “he was quite confident he would not be selected as a candidate, and explicitly expressed interest in working on the development team. He and Zack attend the same seminary, attend a few of the same classes and are even in a Bible study together. I’ve seen them interacting, and I really think that a guy like Oscar pushes Zack to explain himself more clearly.”
“I think you understand why we cannot have friends, neither of the chair, nor of the author, on the development team.”
“I do fully understand that,” Lydia said respectfully, “but let me reassure you that the two of them have a very odd relationship, almost adversarial. They really hold quite divergent views, as you probably gathered from their pieces. Also, after reading over the development manual that I showed him, it was Oscar who recommended Zack to me. He’s already demonstrated an understanding of this company and of our process, and I think it’s quite natural that he be given a place on the team.”
“And what kind of relationship,” Gerald asked, adding careful emphasis to the word, “does this Oscar have with you?”
“We both know that I am under no obligation to answer that question, but since I think it helps my cause, I will tell you. He is an old acquaintance of mine. I knew that he was a religious man, and he has been instrumental in helping me to understand the mindset of our target demographic for this book.” Her hands were shaking under the table from her uncharacteristic display of confidence.
Gerald looked back down at the two lists and picked up a marker. “I’ll make you a deal, Miss Phillips. You can have this Oscar gentleman, but then you also need to go with my two selections here.”
“That’s absolutely fine,” she said without even looking at who he had picked.
“Then you’ll only need to pick two more from this list,” he said, sending his original list back across the table.
“No problem,” Lydia said, taking the list gracefully from the table.
He then spent the next five minutes outlining some other expectations he had. She hoped the next two months, which was in fact the timeline he had given her, wouldn’t have too many more of these informal meetings.
Gerald left for his dinner with the board members and Lydia returned to her desk. She had a barrage of emails to unleash, both to close out the interview process and to lead up to the first development team meeting later that week. She could hardly believe that Oscar’s advice had come true; she was already good enough, and now, they had been convinced.
From: Lydia Phillips
To: Development Team
Subject: Christianity Book Project – Meeting #1
Greetings Development Team Members,
As head of the development team, I look forward to working with all of you over the coming two months.
This letter is to inform you of our first official meeting, this coming Wednesday from 4-7pm. It will be primarily for familiarizing everyone with Westminster Printers’ official policies and the specific timeline we are expected to work with as well. It will also be a good chance to get to know the other people on the team.
We will be using group emails as our primary mode of communication, so if this is not the address you want used for that, let me know.
Please also note that you can contact me at any time with your concerns or suggestions for the project.
See you all on Wednesday.
Sincerely,
Lydia
From: Oscar Brandt
To: Lydia Phillips
Subject: Re: Christianity Book Project – Meeting #1
I’m looking forward to the meeting, Lydia. Anything I can do before then to help you prepare?
Congrats again on getting the project approved.
- OB
From: Lydia Phillips
To: Oscar Brandt
Subject: Re: Re: Christianity Book Project – Meeting #1
Hi Oscar,
You can help by giving me ideas on just how to lead this team. A colleague of mine, the woman who wrote our last book, says I should do whatever I can to make sure things go my way. I’m just not sure I have that kind of iron fist personality.
Guess I’ll figure something out by then.
Later,
Lydia
From: Oscar Brandt
To: Lydia Phillips
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Christianity Book Project – Meeting #1
You’ll do just fine.
I think if you’re not an iron fist kind of person, then it’s hypocritical to enforce your way of doing things. If you have an idea of how this team should work, just communicate it clearly and be consistent about it and people can’t help but follow your model. I’m guessing the ones that resist would do so anyway.
Jesus says, “If you live by bureaucracy, you die by bureaucracy.” Well, he was talking about “the sword,” but I think this counts as being what he meant.
See you at the meeting,
- OB