Read Online Disclosure by Michael Crichton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Michael Crichton
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she poked at her food for a while. “And you, Stephanie?
What do you think?”
Kaplan shrugged. “She's able.”
“Able but weak?”
“No.” Kaplan shook her head. “Meredith has ability. That's not in question. But I'm concerned about her experience. She's not as seasoned as she might be. She's being put in charge of four major technical units that are expected to grow rapidly. I just hope she's up to it.”
There was the clink of a spoon on a glass, and Garvin stepped to the front of the room. “Even though you're stil eating dessert, let's get started, so we can finish by two o'clock,” he said. “Let me remind you of the new timetable. Assuming everything continues as planned, we expect to make the formal announcement of the acquisition at a press conference here on Friday noon. And now, let me introduce our new associates from Conley-White . . .”
As Garvin named the C-W people, and they stood up around the table, Kaplan leaned over and whispered to Tom, “This is al fluff and feathers. The real reason for this lunch is you-know-who.”
“. . . and final y,” Garvin said, “let me introduce someone that many of you know, but some of you do not, the new Vice President for Advanced Operations and Planning, Meredith Johnson.”
There was scattered, brief applause as Johnson got up from her seat and walked to a podium at the front of the room. In her dark blue suit, she looked the model of corporate correctness, but she was strikingly beautiful. At the podium, she put on horn-rimmed glasses and lowered the conference room lights.
“Bob has asked me to review the way the new structure wil work,” she said, “and to say something about what we see happening in the coming months.” She bent over the podium, where a computer was set up for presentations. “Now, if I can just work this thing . . . let me see . . .”
In the darkened room, Don Cherry caught Sanders's eye and shook his head slowly.
“Ali, okay, here we are,” Johnson said, at the podium. The screen behind her came to life. Animated images generated by the computer were projected onto the screen. The first image showed a red heart, which broke into four pieces.
“The heart of DigiCom has always been its Advanced Products Group, which consists of four separate divisions as you see here. But as al information throughout the world becomes digital, these divisions wil inevitably merge.” On the screen, the pieces of the heart slid back together, and the heart transformed itself into a spinning globe. It began to throw off products. “For the customer in the near future, armed with cel ular phone, built-in fax modem, and handheld computer or PDA, it wil be increasingly irrelevant where in the world he or she is and where the information is coming from. We are talking about the true globalization of information, and this implies an array of new products for our major markets in business and education.” The globe expanded and dissolved, became classrooms on al continents, students at desks. “In particular, education wil be a growing focus of this company as technology moves from print to digital displays to virtual environments. Now, let's review exactly what this means, and where I see it taking us.”
And she proceeded to do it al -hypermedia, embedded video, authoring systems, work-group structures, academic sourcing, customer acceptance. She moved on to the cost structures-projected research outlays and revenues, five-year goals, offshore variables. Then to major product chal enges-quality control, user feedback, shorter development cycles.
Meredith Johnson's presentation was flawless, the images blending and flowing across the screen, her voice confident, no hesitation, no pauses. As she continued, the room became quiet, the atmosphere distinctly respectful.
“Although this is not the time to go into technical matters,” she said, “I want to mention that new CD-drive seek times under a hundred mil iseconds, combined
What do you think?”
Kaplan shrugged. “She's able.”
“Able but weak?”
“No.” Kaplan shook her head. “Meredith has ability. That's not in question. But I'm concerned about her experience. She's not as seasoned as she might be. She's being put in charge of four major technical units that are expected to grow rapidly. I just hope she's up to it.”
There was the clink of a spoon on a glass, and Garvin stepped to the front of the room. “Even though you're stil eating dessert, let's get started, so we can finish by two o'clock,” he said. “Let me remind you of the new timetable. Assuming everything continues as planned, we expect to make the formal announcement of the acquisition at a press conference here on Friday noon. And now, let me introduce our new associates from Conley-White . . .”
As Garvin named the C-W people, and they stood up around the table, Kaplan leaned over and whispered to Tom, “This is al fluff and feathers. The real reason for this lunch is you-know-who.”
“. . . and final y,” Garvin said, “let me introduce someone that many of you know, but some of you do not, the new Vice President for Advanced Operations and Planning, Meredith Johnson.”
There was scattered, brief applause as Johnson got up from her seat and walked to a podium at the front of the room. In her dark blue suit, she looked the model of corporate correctness, but she was strikingly beautiful. At the podium, she put on horn-rimmed glasses and lowered the conference room lights.
“Bob has asked me to review the way the new structure wil work,” she said, “and to say something about what we see happening in the coming months.” She bent over the podium, where a computer was set up for presentations. “Now, if I can just work this thing . . . let me see . . .”
In the darkened room, Don Cherry caught Sanders's eye and shook his head slowly.
“Ali, okay, here we are,” Johnson said, at the podium. The screen behind her came to life. Animated images generated by the computer were projected onto the screen. The first image showed a red heart, which broke into four pieces.
“The heart of DigiCom has always been its Advanced Products Group, which consists of four separate divisions as you see here. But as al information throughout the world becomes digital, these divisions wil inevitably merge.” On the screen, the pieces of the heart slid back together, and the heart transformed itself into a spinning globe. It began to throw off products. “For the customer in the near future, armed with cel ular phone, built-in fax modem, and handheld computer or PDA, it wil be increasingly irrelevant where in the world he or she is and where the information is coming from. We are talking about the true globalization of information, and this implies an array of new products for our major markets in business and education.” The globe expanded and dissolved, became classrooms on al continents, students at desks. “In particular, education wil be a growing focus of this company as technology moves from print to digital displays to virtual environments. Now, let's review exactly what this means, and where I see it taking us.”
And she proceeded to do it al -hypermedia, embedded video, authoring systems, work-group structures, academic sourcing, customer acceptance. She moved on to the cost structures-projected research outlays and revenues, five-year goals, offshore variables. Then to major product chal enges-quality control, user feedback, shorter development cycles.
Meredith Johnson's presentation was flawless, the images blending and flowing across the screen, her voice confident, no hesitation, no pauses. As she continued, the room became quiet, the atmosphere distinctly respectful.
“Although this is not the time to go into technical matters,” she said, “I want to mention that new CD-drive seek times under a hundred mil iseconds, combined
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