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“I promise I’ll come back to visit as often as I can. I love you.”
As I returned to my car, a renewed sense of purpose filled me. Just as my grandmother felt her connection to my grandfather, so I began to feel it with Gabe. I wanted to do whatever I could, knowing no matter how things turned out between us, I’d given this project my all.
If there was any shred of hope we could turn things around and somehow convince the investors to move forward, I pledged to myself I wouldn’t rest until that was accomplished.
GABE
Although things were back on track once again with Fiona and the lab team, the unfortunate truth was, I still had to figure out what to tell the investors. They’d been more than patient, waiting for almost a month since we first arrived in St. Barth’s, and my ability to buy time was at its end.
I’d been thoroughly briefed by Fiona and other key lab members. Now it was up to me to figure out how to present what they told me in the best possible light.
In fact, I’d lost a good number of the smaller players, but luckily the ones with the deepest pockets remained interested. After a final push, I managed to coordinate a teleconference meeting with all of them and explain exactly where things were and what they could expect.
As backup, I gathered Don Cabot and his team to assist me during the hour-long discussion. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of these types of meetings, as I much preferred to deal with people face-to-face. But, the downside to dealing with exorbitantly wealthy people is that getting them all in the same place at the same time is difficult, if not impossible.
It was all the more reason I’d been kicking myself for allowing the meeting we did manage to pull off in St. Barth’s to completely disintegrate. However, that was in the past now, so I had to make the best of a bad situation.
I began the meeting by recapping what we’d done since we’d all been together in the islands. I wanted to reassure them that even though there had been problems and setbacks, we were well on our way to correcting them. I used the phrase ‘‘well on our way’ specifically because that’s where things stood.
Although we were getting closer to working out the challenges, we hadn’t yet, and as I wrapped up the discussion, I prepared myself for a barrage of questions.
It wasn’t long before they began to come in earnest.
I glanced at Don Cabot for a moment. Out of the view of the camera, Don simply shook his head as he looked at me. I couldn’t blame him for his reaction and doubt as to whether or not we were going to be able to pull this off.
But, at the same time, what choice did we have?
Just then, one of the investors, a real estate mogul from Beijing, fired a question at me. “Mr. Hawkins,” he began, as he looked into the camera with an unflinching stare. “For months now, you’ve more or less told us the same story. Why should this time be any different?”
I nodded as he finished speaking. As an active investor myself in a number of projects, I could relate to his sentiment.
“Excellent question. Does anyone else have a similar concern?” I asked.
Almost without exception, the group of virtual meeting attendees grunted and shifted about in their seats, indicating their shared displeasure.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask all of you a question. Many of you I’ve known for a number of years—you’ve invested in my business and profited handsomely from it. I’ve never been a man who doesn’t deliver on his promises. Wouldn’t you all agree?”
I paused for a moment and waited to see if there would be any challenge to my question. Of course, I knew there wouldn’t be. I’d only asked the question to set the stage for what I would say next.
“Now, I’ll be the first to admit we’ve had some setbacks, and that yes, we are in fact still not prepared to do the presentation as I’d planned it in St. Barth’s. However, I remain as optimistic and focused as ever. I believe in what we’re doing, and I think all of us stand to profit at an outrageous level once we’ve achieved our objectives.”
Just as I was about to put a fine point on my statement, another one of the investors chimed in, interrupting me.
“Gabe, I think I speak for all of us when I say that none of us questions what you’ve done in the past. There’s no denying your track record and how successful you’ve been. But, this entire process has gone on for far too long and seems to be completely bogged down in mismanagement and more to the point… ineptitude.”
As he finished, I glanced at Don again. My senior executive looked at me with eyes wide as moons and shook his head back and forth, a clear warning I should measure my response. Ignoring him, I turned my attention back to the investors once again.
