Executive

…13

Steve Mercer had been with The Agency for more than ten years. He enjoyed the practical applications of his extensive knowledge of human psychology. He could function equally well in customer service or human resources leadership. With bright, almost translucent blue eyes and a tall, proud posture, he instantly captured the attention of everyone in the room. His voice was melodious, while assertive and strong. He was persuasive and liked to hear himself speak, carefully constructing the messages he conveyed, in both content and feeling. He was Alex's assigned trainer for the day, and he was enjoying every minute of it.

"Companies can be like countries. You can find every possible political struggle tearing up the guts of a company. Fights over power, coups and counter-coups, opposition and dissidence, political imprisonment, espionage, sabotage, or even commando-type actions can take place, with the sole purpose of shifting power toward one or another of the players."

Alex was all ears, listening with an interest she never thought she would have for a training session. Usually, training had been boring and too slow for her fast and analytical mind. Her expectations were high, from both the course material and the training facilitator. With an IQ of 164, her patience was highly volatile, and her tolerance for mediocre materials was limited. This training session was different. All the information was new to her, concentrated and free of all unnecessary detail, and served by Steve as fast as she could absorb it.

He was continuing the fast-paced presentation, supported by images projected from a Dell laptop to a white screen on the wall.

"In such companies, you will find the darkest traits of modern society: corruption, theft, deceit, blackmail, fear, and worse. Sometimes, the reasons for these actions are downright unbelievable. In these specific environments, you have to be prepared for anything, no matter how absurd. You have to learn to see things through the eyes of different people. Expect things that are not worth doing, based on your system of values, to be well worth it for someone else. For instance, if you wouldn't consider stealing two dollars from someone else's unguarded desk, don't imagine that everyone else thinks the same."

Steve was slowly pacing the floor, but Alex wasn't letting him out of her sight.

"Your success in this line of work will depend on the accuracy of your diagnosis. In most cases, there is also a time factor. Your best ally is modern psychology. You will learn to read people, to assess their states of mind in just seconds, and then to decide if they have a role in your play, if they are simply ignorant bystanders, or innocent victims caught in a game they don't even comprehend. You will learn to find the real motives behind actions. You will learn to hide not only who you are, but also what you think and how you feel. And I have to say, there is a lot of work to be done in that respect," Steve continued with a smile. "Your face is like an open book, Alex."

She felt the blood rush to her cheeks.

Steve clicked the small remote control he was holding. A new slide came up, its title reading, "Surviving the Jungle of Corporate America."

"Do you want to stop for a break?" he asked. She signaled no without a word, eyes on the intriguing title.

"You have to remember, most of the people we are exposing have a lot to lose. Few of them are small-timers, who are only risking their jobs. Most of them are risking serious financial losses and jail time and will not go down without a fierce fight. Please take this job as seriously as you would take police work. It comes with all the risks, but unfortunately without the Kevlar vest, gun, or badge. And there is usually no way of knowing, before we actually take a position inside the client company and start the investigation, if we're dealing with a small time, non-dangerous case, or if there's a serious felony being committed. I have to repeat: your best ally in the field is psychology."

The following slide was a list of book titles with comments.

With a cynical smile, Steve continued. "Weekend is coming." He tapped on the pile of books on the table beside him. "You'll be busy."

Another slide.

"Always think Means — Motive — Opportunity. This is the base for any human action, criminal or not. The first book on the list will explain some unusual motives you might encounter."

The following slide was projecting a book's cover, People of the Lie.

"Written by a psychiatrist, who is also a man of the cloth, the book addresses issues of parental abuse. You might think, what's that got to do with anything? Well, two things actually. One is that I find this book to give the best descriptions of human evil I ever came across."

Alex blinked in surprise.

"Sometimes all we have to do to fix a company's problem is to identify and remove the evil person who is doing harm, without any material or professional gain whatsoever. This book will help you grasp the concept of evil and will give you some examples of evil people posing successfully as nice, pleasant people. The second reason for my selection is that the way we act and react is forever marked by our experiences as growing children. Parental abuse is unfortunately common in our society, and those abused children grow up and get jobs, so keep an open mind when you are assessing motivations in the corporate world."

The following slide was another book title, The Truth about Burnout: How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do about It.

"In other cases, corporations are to blame for causing the harm. The executives become too focused on profits and cost reduction, while neglecting the realities and limitations of their staff. Therefore, their actions are harmful in the long run. Read it, and let me know what you think. On the same topic, I have added another two titles."

The book list was quite long, a comprehensive selection of titles varying from Freud's Totem and Taboo and Civilization and Its Discontents to Organizational Behavior, including books dedicated to emotions, stress management, and crisis management.

"Wow," she whispered.

"For all these books, I made notes on the sections you should absolutely go through. That is because we are in a bit of a hurry. However, feel free to hold onto the books, and read the ones you like from cover to cover, when you have a bit of time. On Monday, we will proceed based on this homework. Oh, you have to finish all the books by Monday."

"But…" She stopped protesting, when he smiled encouragingly.

"Didn't Tom tell you? We're never bored at The Agency." He leaned forward and powered down his laptop. "Now, could I ask you to have lunch with me? It's been a long time since I had the privilege of sharing a meal with a beautiful, smart woman."

Alex was walking on a cloud.