Read Online Trilemma by Jennifer Mortimer - Free Book Online Page A

woman.
    â€œWhat about me?”
    Robert sips his coffee. “You?”
    â€œI’m smart, I’m decisive, and I’ve got the right experience. And I know what needs to be done and how to get it done. Why can’t I throw my hat in the ring?”
    â€œThis is a hard job. Are you tough enough?”
    â€œI’m strong.”
    â€œNot quite the same thing as being tough. And you’re a maverick, Lin. Useful when the going gets rough, but a liability when you have to deal with the Government, and the media, and all the other players in this game.”
    â€œI can be diplomatic when I need to be,” I say. “Haven’t Ibeen polite to Adam and Tom and to the Board even when I thought they were goddamn fools?”
    â€œIt’s a thin veneer,” he says. “And the job will require absolute commitment.”
    â€œI don’t have any family,” I reply. “No husband, no children, no parents. No distractions.”
    â€œI’m not sticking my neck out for you on this one, Lin. Don’t go expecting that.”
    I’ve pushed too hard. Time to back off. I shrug. “I expect nothing, Robert. All I ask is that you consider me as another option.”
    Robert’s eyes lose focus. He puts down his empty cup to look at his watch. “I’d better get back to the meeting.”
    I try to focus on the financials in my spreadsheet, but when I think about the opportunity to be chief executive, to be right at the top of that ladder, my heart starts beating faster and the blood pumps thud, thud, thud, so I get up and pace back and forth across the room.
    I want the job. I
want
it.

Chapter 13
    Why is it taking them so long?
I send Robert a text asking him how much longer. He doesn’t reply.
    I get up and pace back and forth, sit down, try to work, give up, stand and pace again. I’d been in my profession for seventeen, going on eighteen years, climbing that ladder, rung by rung, success by success. I’d moved rapidly into being a manager, not because I was one of the effortless confident leaders who could always assume they would be the one people would follow, but because I was damned good at what I did. I never failed to deliver. I argued for what I thought was the right way, and then proved myself correct. I recognized good people, listened to them, and made sure to pull them together into a team.
    Robert used to complain I argued too much, but if you know what to do, it’s your duty to make sure it happens. Not for me the political silences and the working through others and the patient oblique influencing. I preferred blunt talk and direct action.
    And that is what Hera was going to need if we were to have any chance of building our business from the bare earth of the switch site on the Petone shore, through the streets of the Hutt Valley, and into Wellington and this office.
    I’m still at my desk when Robert finally reappears. He stands beside me, looking over my shoulder at the figures.
    â€œHow are the finances tracking?”
    â€œThis month is okay, but once the software project kicks in we’ll have much more of a challenge staying within budget.”
    Robert sighs. “This business keeps getting more expensive. Sometimes I wonder whether we should have stayed out of it.”
    â€œDo your investors have big pockets?”
    â€œBig pockets but small stomachs.”
    â€œAre you going to back out?”
    â€œNot yet. We made a decision on Adam’s replacement.”
    â€œIt took you guys a while,” I say.
Come on, Robert, spit it out.
    â€œStanton was pretty keen to go with his Old Boy network.”
    â€œIt’s a specialized business,” I reply. “Telco knowledge is important.”
    â€œHobb wanted to bring in one of his executives from Ozcom. Obviously, with a lot of telco experience.”
    â€œThe challenger culture is different. I doubt if any of the Ozcom managers would know how to