Chapter 12: The Board Room

In the morning, I said goodbye to everyone and headed for the City. Lars worked in the financial district and his bosses wanted to meet me. They received an open invitation to my party, which some of them accepted, but this was the official meeting. I suppose I should have been nervous, but I was more irritated than anything. Sean explained that Siemens did not like their young guns wasting time dating. The attitude was familiar. Yale and Dartmouth felt the same way. It was just as unrealistic and annoying in a business setting.

I had a quick chance to see Lars in his office on the 14th floor. Together we went up to the 56th. Nice view. The locally senior people were having coffee in the conference room. This was just a ploy to throw me off stride, but I had been there and done that. I asked for tea with lemon so that I could settle for coffee with cream. Lars made a good stone face, but I caught one of the other executives flinching.

Another way the coffee ploy backfired is that I could watch everyone take their places. It was not hard to sort the pecking order. Georg Karl, the Vice President of American Operations was titular head, but a much younger man took charge. His name was Robert Swenson, Director of International Relations – USA Branch. What he did not say was that he was the local supervisor of Lars' training program. Effectively, he was Lars' boss's boss. He offered to shake hands, so I stepped six inches too close and used a firm grip.

In another setting, it would have been funny. Sheila had selected a dark charcoal skirt suit and a red silk top for me to wear. I knew I looked good, so confidence was easy. With my now usual three inch heels, I was at least an inch taller than Mr. Swenson. He tried very hard to stand straighter and look down on me, but physics was against him. He was also uncomfortably close, which ruined any attempt at dominance posturing. With the much taller Lars, Mr. Swenson would have known better than to try, but I was a girl. Silly boy.

The clutch took only seconds. I released Mr. Swenson's hand and took my indicated seat. Lars stepped into the gap and introduced me as Frau Doktor Richards. This caused a ripple of comment. It appeared to be new information to several of the men in the room. There were three women. None of them were surprised. They all looked openly interested. Nodding to Lars, I rose and addressed them all. From Mr. Swenson's reaction, this was not according to plan. Tough noogies.

I said, "Thank you for inviting me here today. As Lars said, I have a PhD from Yale and soon expect to receive another from Dartmouth. My name is Siobhan Richards. I was born and raised in upstate New Jersey. You may know my brother Sean, CEO of Richards Enterprises." Another ripple. More new information. "Lars and I met a few weeks ago at a club.

"The occasion was the bachelorette party for Sean's wedding. Francine Martel hosted us at her restaurant and club. You may have heard of the hot sauce challenge. That was the night. I insisted on gloves because they had Mad Dog 44 Magnum. The stuff causes blisters. I'll never know how Christine kept it down without a fire extinguisher. No one else has.

"Lars was impressed by Christine and my sister-in-law, Sheila. You know her too. The merry-go-round wedding. She wore an impossible green dress, with hand crocheted lace. You might also have noted me. I wore an English style suit, with a walking stick and top hat." Eyes widened around the room as everyone placed me.

I concluded, "That's me in a nutshell. Do you have any questions?"

One of the women asked, "Did you have anything to do with the wedding planning?" Fish in a barrel.

I took a moment to decide how to phrase the response. I knew this would come across as either hesitant and thoughtful, depending on the listener's bias. I had a sledgehammer for the negative biases, but first I played to them.

I said, "With the planning, no. Sheila wanted the garden party and the ball to be in an early 20th-century theme. Sean, who is a bit of an evil genius, provided the merry-go-round. The dress was also his. That was all settled before I arrived. Even the Amish carriages were Sean's idea. Pretty much all the planning was done when I took over."