Chapter 9: Stress Fractures

July 22, 1991, Chicago, Illinois

“No!” I said firmly. “Absolutely not! I simply won’t do it.”

“Son, you need everyone to sign the documents,” my dad protested.

“I realize. And I’ll get the signatures by ASKING, not by THREATENING. Look, the management team will all sign. Heck, they’re all shareholders! So of course they’ll sign. And I know for certain that Penny, Tasha, Zo, and Jeri will sign. So will Mario. Maybe one or two junior programmers won’t sign. So what? I won’t threaten anyone with termination for not signing. Period.”

“The Board can direct you to do that,” Joyce said.

“Oh, they can. And I’ll call an emergency shareholder meeting and solve THAT problem immediately. This is my company. I rarely do this, but in this case, I’m telling all of you this is my company and this is the policy. Period. Hold your vote if you must.”

There was silence for nearly a minute before someone spoke again.

“I have to say I agree with Steve,” Beth Pater said. “This is one of those things that goes right to the core of his personality. And honestly, should we be fighting him over a couple of junior people who might not sign? I say we let him use his incomparable powers of persuasion and his charm to accomplish this. A carrot, not a stick.”

That was one vote. I knew that if either Karl or Al backed me, I’d win a vote if it were held. Those two tended to agree on most things. But I also suspected that if either of them backed me on this, there wouldn’t BE a vote. Al Barton spoke up.

“I think Jamie is correct from a legal standpoint, but this is Steve’s company,” he said. “I’ve fought the hospital board repeatedly for things I thought were right when the hospital lawyers said otherwise. I can’t be a hypocrite and fault him for it. I say we let him do it his way.”

I smiled. Elyse smiled and nodded. Cindi rolled her eyes.

“Well, Joyce? What’s it going to be?” I asked.

“The chair will entertain a motion to require all current employees to sign the NDA and non-compete agreements,” she said.

“So moved,” my dad said.

“Is there a second?”

Silence. That meant Karl was going to back me up and that the vote would go my way.

“Hearing none, the motion fails,” Joyce said after a moment’s silence.

I had thought she might forgo the usual precedent and second the motion herself, but she read the writing on the wall just as I had.

“Well, Son, you got your way,” my dad said. “I hope this works out the way you believe it will.”

“Jamie, are the agreements ready?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ll courier them over today. Remember, you need to give every employee time to consult an attorney and advise them to do that with a witness in the room who hears you give that instruction. Nobody should sign it for at least 48 hours after you present it to them.”

“Got it,” I said.

“Now, we’ll move on to the lawsuit,” Joyce said. “Jamie?”

For the next hour we discussed the subpoenas, our responses, and the motions already filed. Jamie said he expected a removal order from the District Court in Boston by the end of the week. There was simply no way the Federal Court could ignore the fact that NIKA was an Illinois corporation, and that the adhesive contract clause was insufficient to subject us to the jurisdiction of a Massachusetts state court.

“Wow. That’s the first time you and your dad have really clashed,” Elyse observed when we hung up the call. “He sounded really annoyed.”

“So did Steve!” Cindi said. “Beth and Doctor Barton saved him from himself.”

“Saved me from myself? How so?”

“Replacing the Board because you disagree with them is NOT a good idea,” she said.

“It is when, as Beth put it, it’s a fundamental, core belief,” Elyse said. “Would YOU violate a core belief just because some lawyer told you to? Al Barton sure doesn’t, and if there is one person Steve looks up to since Joyce’s grandfather died, it’s Al Barton. Do you think Jess will ever compromise her core beliefs because some hospital lawyer tells her to? Or will SHE fight it tooth and nail?”

“Elyse has a good point,” Dave said. “A very good point. Look at Steve’s mentors and the people he’s hired and who he’s friends with. You all know Jeri’s story at this point. Think it though.”

“No,” Cindi said firmly, shaking her head, “I believe all of you are dead wrong. This is a legal issue, and an important one. Letting your feelings get in the way could open us to all kinds of trouble.”

“It was illegal for the Founding Fathers to do what they did,” I said. “Should they have gone against their core beliefs and followed the law?”

“That’s a bullshit argument and you know it!” Cindi said. “We’re not talking a revolution here, just business!”

“No, it’s not just business,” I said firmly. “It’s about who we are and who we want to be. I will never allow NIKA to become that kind of company. Ever. Look, I take Jamie’s advice nearly all of the time. Do I push back? Yes, of course, because in many cases, what he’s telling me is STUPID. As Mr. Bumble said in Dickens’ Oliver Twist, ‘the law is a ass - a idiot’.

“Granted, the context was the supposition that a wife could be controlled by her husband, but the sentiment accurately reflects my view of the law in many instances. And you know what? Jamie often agrees with me! But I pay him to know the law. And when it comes to things that are rightly his purview, he gets his way. Well, this isn’t his purview. This is about the fundamental nature of this company. And I don’t think you want me to compromise it. Not really.

“One thing Joyce’s grandfather, Don Joseph, taught me was that business is about relationships. With your customers, your suppliers, and your employees. In the end, that is all you have. Someone can always offer your employees more money, or a promotion, or whatever. You could get into a bidding war, or you can simply treat them right and be loyal to them, and, obviously, I think that is the better way, That’s worked for us so far, and I’m not about to change it.

“We don’t get into bidding wars to win deals, do we? No. We offer our software at a price that matches the value we provide. In fact, I’d argue that by comparison with BLS, the value we provide exceeds the revenue we generate from our clients. We work to retain our clients by building relationships. Isn’t that what you do every single day, Cindi? Isn’t that what Kimmy does with our suppliers? Why wouldn’t we do that with our staff?”

“You win,” she said, throwing up her hands.

The way she said that concerned me, and I wondered if the first cracks were showing in the unity of the team.

July 23, 1991, Chicago, Illinois

“I’m worried about Cindi,” Dave said on Tuesday morning.

We were sitting in the small conference room, prepared to bring in each team member to discuss the non-compete and NDA agreements.

“You and me both,” I replied. “Elyse and I had a talk last night after dinner. Something is up with Cindi. I’m hoping it’s just the stress of the lawsuit and having a baby, but Elyse isn’t so sure.”

“Maybe it’s that AND her fundamental disagreement with you on policy. I will point out that you did your best to shut down anyone who opposed you. That isn’t usually your style.”

“And was it unwarranted? Is threatening our staff REALLY possible? Or is it so far beyond the pale as to not even warrant discussion?”

“Julia and I agree with you. It’s beyond the pale. I suppose in your position, you have to be a hard-ass at some point. It’s just not something we expect from you.”

“And on this topic?”

“We probably should have expected it. Maybe that’s what’s bugging Cindi. That you really don’t normally respond that way and you shocked her.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Patience. Let things play out. I don’t think she’s going to quit. Do you?”

“No. Elyse thought she might take an extended leave of absence, though. Remember, at one point she had talked about taking an entire year off when the baby was born.”

“You know, I forgot about that. And that makes me think your assessment is correct. You’re usually good at reading people and I think you may have just hit on what the problem is. She has the same conflict Julia’s had since Peter was born. The same conflict all women have to deal with - career versus motherhood. But you make it easy! Extensive maternity leave, plenty of flexibility with schedules, and no loss of seniority or anything else if you take time off to be with your kids.”

“Nature set it up so that women have a larger role when the kids are little,” I said. “Our mammaries don’t help!”

Dave laughed, “Thank God for that! Can you imagine? Or having a period? Hell no!”

“Exactly. As Anala once said to me, any person who can bleed for a week and not die can NOT be called the weaker sex!”

“So, shall we call in our first contestant?” he grinned.

“Yes. You know we’ll have to hide every pen in the place. She’s not going to want to wait 48 milliseconds let alone 48 hours!”

Dave nodded and went to get Penny. Our judgment was correct.

“Just give me a fucking pen and let me sign it now!”

“In this case, Pretty Penny, I’m following Jamie’s instructions. Just take the form, put it on your desk, and turn it in to Kimmy on Thursday afternoon, please.”

“I swear, Shakespeare was right!” she spat. “The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers!”

“I hate to break it to you,” I said. “But the context was how to go about establishing autocratic rule. Lawyers get in the way of oppressive governments, so that’s why the suggestion was to kill them.”

Penny rolled her eyes, grabbed the forms, and went back to our shared office.

“I bet the next one is equally annoyed by the waiting period,” Dave grinned.

He was right about Jeri. In fact, he was right about every single member of Dave’s staff. Not a single person voiced any objections, and most of them wanted to sign right away.

“It looks like you were right,” Dave said.

“We’ll see. Just because they seem happy to sign it sitting here with you and me doesn’t mean they’ll actually sign it. That said, the core team did all say they would, without reservation.”

The same was true with the consulting team when Charlie and I met with them, and the office staff, when Elyse and I met with them. And, to her surprise, but not mine, when I spoke either in person or by phone to all of Cindi’s team. She didn’t say anything when I pointed out that I expected 100% compliance. I could tell she was still annoyed, but I followed Dave’s and Elyse’s advice to simply let things play out.

July 26, 1991, Chicago, Illinois

“Do you believe this?” I asked at breakfast.

“I heard on the news last night after you went to bed,” Elyse said.

“What’s that?” Kara asked.

“A guy in Milwaukee named Jeffrey Dahmer murdered a bunch of young men and, this is almost too much to believe, engaged in cannibalism!”

“No!” Kara whimpered. “Here? In the US? Oh my God!”

“My reaction exactly,” I said. “They’re saying at least a dozen young men, maybe as many as twenty.”

“That’s just sick!” Abbie said.

“What, Abbie?” Birgit asked, coming into the kitchen with Matthew and Michael.

“Just a bad man in Milwaukee, Pumpkin. He’s far away from here.”

“What did he do?” Matthew asked.

“Murdered people.”

“Like happened to Nicholas’ dada?”

Not really, but given the other things the newspaper said, I wasn’t about to broach them with my children, all age five and under!

“Yes, like that. The police arrested him and he’s in jail. He’ll stay there forever, like the bad man who killed Uncle Nick.”

“Good!” Matthew said.

“We don’t like bad men!” Birgit said.

“No we don’t, Pumpkin. Now, let’s forget about bad men and have our breakfast, shall we?”

Someday, I wouldn’t be able to hide these things from my children, nor should I. But at this age, I wasn’t about to terrorize them with stories of cannibalism, necrophilia, dismemberment, and murder. I finished my breakfast, despite a queasy stomach, and Elyse and I headed for the office.

“So we got them all but Brad?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“His father is talking to Jamie. I figure we let the two attorneys duke it out, and see what comes of it. Honestly, if he doesn’t sign it’s no big deal.”

“Are you going to call your dad and Joyce?” she asked.

“No, you are. I don’t want to sound like I’m gloating.”

“But you are, you smug bastard!” Elyse laughed.

“True, but why rub their noses in it? As Al advised me at lunch yesterday, I won and I should drop it. Rubbing their noses in it only makes it more difficult the next time!”

Elyse laughed, “I guess he did that?”

“Apparently more than a few times in Indianapolis. It turns out that his departure from that fine institution was not as mourned as he implied back when it happened!”

“I could see that,” Elyse said. “He can be a smug bastard, too!”

“And Jessica could give us all lessons!” I said.

“Except your eldest. Jesse could write a damn book on smug self-assurance!”

“I guess being a ladies’ man, it comes naturally!” I smirked.

“You know, if you couldn’t actually back that up, I’d probably have killed you by now!”

“Funny, that was the threat Vera made in St. Petersburg! If I wasn’t as good as Tanya said I was, she would kill me in the morning!”

“Well, I for one am glad you were! How are you juggling things tonight?”

“We’ll eat dinner with Bethany and Jeri, then drop by Al’s for Fawn’s going away party. Mostly it’s her friends, so we’ll just pop in and say goodbye.”

“Uh huh,” Elyse laughed. “I saw the tickets and the hotel reservation!”

“I’m going to see Colonel Anisimova and her family,” I protested.

Elyse laughed, “Of course you are!”

“I am! I’m just staying a few extra days to attend to business!”

Elyse laughed again, “That does seem to be your business! I meant to thank you again for the Reds game on Wednesday night.”

“You’re welcome. But at this point, they’re not looking like they are going to repeat.”

“No, I’d say not,” she sighed. “But, they’re competitive again. Let’s hope for another World Series in the next few years.”

“Right now, I’m hoping for another Stanley Cup!” I grinned. “That’s FAR more likely.”

By lunch, I’d finally caught up on all the work that had piled up while I was away. Unfortunately, that didn’t include any programming work, much to Dave’s annoyance. The only saving grace was that our next major release was nearly a year away. I did get a few hours in after lunch, though a call from Jamie interrupted me.