Executive

…15

"How do our clients find us?" Tom Isaac actually expected an answer. He leaned forward, making inviting gestures with his right hand.

"Through advertising, maybe?" Alex volunteered.

"You aren't thinking. What would happen if we advertised? We would be shooting ourselves in the foot with everyone in the American corporate workplace knowing we existed. We'd have increasing difficulties getting the job done. Any other ideas?"

"Referrals?"

"Yes. Mainly, yes. Business owners tend to stick together and interact with one another at a level that is most times inaccessible to their staff, no matter how high ranking." Tom paused for a second and smiled. With a complete change in the tone of his voice, he swiftly became Alex's concerned friend. "How's it going? Are you comfortable with this pace? You know, we didn't get the chance to sit down and discuss what we plan to achieve and the best way to get there."

Surprised, Alex replied without thinking. "Yes, everything is fine, no problem."

"See? You're doing it again," Tom said, with the tone of a parent grounding a four year old. "Relax a bit; you got the job. Now you can afford to really talk to me. You see, experience has repeatedly taught me that in order to function in our line of work, we need to know each other, trust each other, depend on each other, and help each other. I know I should have started with this instead of our client acquisition procedures, but please allow me to make up for it. So, let's start over. If you could ask three questions in the utmost confidentiality, what would those be?"

"Well, I am wondering how come I was so lucky to come across your ad. It seems to me that finding someone for this job isn't exactly easy for you. On the other hand, you don't seem to be recruiting that often." Seeing Tom's expression, Alex felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "I don't want to sound arrogant or anything, but how did I get so lucky?"

"You were not lucky, you were selected."

"But—" she started and stopped, with a thousand more questions to ask.

"Remember, three questions for today, one is already answered," Tom warned her, with amusement in his voice.

She took a deep breath. "OK, then. Brian told me, during yesterday's training, that my car has climate control and it doesn't. Was a climate control device installed in my car?"

"Um… no. There goes question number two. Such a shame to see questions go to waste like that. You need to learn to trust. What's number three?"

She blushed, looked down, but somehow found the courage. "Is Brian married?"

"No. Again, such a waste of a good question."

Intrigued, she asked. "Why?"

"You are analytical to the roof and back, but only when you want to be. My question to you is, 'Why don't you use what you have?' You had the answers to all these questions before asking. For instance, you are smart enough not to believe in coincidences, and this is as far as I'll go explaining the first question. The rest you'll figure out on your own someday. You could have avoided question number two, if you'd only asked yourself what reason Brian would have to lie to you, or to make an unsubstantiated statement. As for number three, even if he's not married today, he could have been yesterday or could be tomorrow. What's the value of the answer you got?"

"I deserved it. I sure did, all of it."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. The training process can be exhausting and can cause, well, questions to be wasted," Tom concluded, laughing.

"And stupidity to manifest itself." Alex joined him in laughter, thinking what had just happened to make her feel she belonged.