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She covers her mouth with her hand, her eyes going wide. “Sorry,” she says behind the muffle of her hand.
Mr. Riddoch continues his presentation, but I give her a pointed look. She’s not having any of my attempts at blame-shifting. She just shakes her head, her lips squeezing together hard.
After the presentation, Rowena clears her throat. “Can we all just focus here?” She glares at Elianna before turning her wrath at me. “Sebastian, we know you want to take Tate International to the next level. Are you willing to do what it takes?”
Something primal burns in me. “I’ve been doing what it takes the past ten years, Rowena, since the inception of this company.”
She untangles her bun, fluffs out her salt and pepper hair, and starts winding her hair in a bun again. It reminds me of someone preparing for war.
“Are you ready for this? Because you might not like what I’m about to suggest, but I’ve seen this work for several companies I’ve consulted with.”
An unease shifts through the room. For better or worse, I lead this company in such a way that not many people talk to me like this.
“I’m all ears,” I say, steepling my fingers together as I lean forward on the boardroom table. “However, this is a forecasting meeting, so if what you’re about to suggest doesn’t have to do with that, I’ll ask you to bring this up in a different setting.”
“Well, this meeting is all about the bottom line, and I say, considering your goals, it’s time to take some drastic steps.”
I bristle at her mention of my goals. It felt almost dirty telling her, a perfect stranger, that I want to hit the Deca Arete.
“And?” I prod her on, risking a look at Elianna, whose face has grown serious.
“Slash your workforce by ten percent.”
I’m slack jawed. There’s no way that’s happening.
“I can’t do that. We need all our people.”
Rowena winces. “Ah, probably not, actually. Have HR create an enquiry for each and every employee,” Rowena continues. “I’m talking your janitors all the way up to your own brothers.” She pauses and flicks her gaze around the room, landing on Oliver for longer than the others. “Have everyone tell you why you should keep them on. If they can prove to you they’re worthy of being a member of a team that is congruent with the kind of company you’re trying to build, they can stay on. If they can’t prove it to you, and if they have any problematic attributes, they’re outta here.” She leans forward on her elbows.
“What do you mean, problematic attributes?” Oliver asks. I can feel his ratcheting tension from across the room.
Rowena lowers her voice in a whisper. “A lot of it I can’t say out loud.” She sits back and cocks her head to one side. “But things like, how much time off have they taken in the past year? Did they use sick leave? Are they nearing retirement?” She tosses a glance in Elianna’s direction and that’s when my own tension reaches Oliver levels. “Are they qualified for their jobs? If they’re brand new, I’d suggest letting them go, as well. See, there’s a way to put all these undesirable things on a sliding scale. So it’s a numbers game. Not personal. But you’d free up capital, Sebastian. A ton of it. Have it done by November and you’ll be sitting pretty with your—” she pauses, giving me a steely look. “Goal.”
“Nope,” Oliver says, stretching his arms in front of him and cracking his knuckles loudly. “We’re not that kind of company.”
“That’s fine.” Rowena is grinning widely. “But then that also means you’re not ready to get to the next level.” She leans back in her chair and shrugs. “No skin off my nose. But you wouldn’t have hired me if you didn’t want to get there, right Sebastian?”
I’m at war with myself. What she’s suggesting is unlike anything I’ve ever even considered doing. But these are desperate times, and running a company means you sometimes have to do things that are hard.
“Look, Rowena, I appreciate your perspective. I don’t think we’re at the point where we need to do anything that extreme, though. Uh . . .” I glance at Oliver, and then Elianna, and both of them are shooting daggers from their eyes at Rowena. “We can discuss it later, if necessary.”
“Okay,” Rowena says in a nasally voice. “I know you have the ability to do what’s necessary, Sebastian. The question is, do you want it bad enough?” Her brow arches and she’s looking at me like we’re playing chicken. I hold her gaze, and she looks away first as Wayne in forecasting stands to make his presentation.
I’m frustrated at what she’s insinuating. And I’m also so distracted by the beautiful woman across from me that I miss the comment Wayne is making about our foreign markets.
“Can you repeat that, Wayne?” I ask, sure I misheard him.
He eyes me with concern. “I was just saying that we’re projecting a sharp decline in our profits for our two Asian properties. The yen value has dropped substantially, as you can tell from this graphic.” He punches a button on his laptop. “And here are the projections based on how this quarter is going overall.”
“I knew they’d be down. But seven and a half percent?”
Wayne nods. “That’s for Asia. For the company as a whole, we’re looking at a decrease of nine percent for the remaining quarter.”
I wonder if this is some kind of joke. “These are not the projections we had last month.”
“You’re right, they’re not,” Elizabeth Tretton says. “The Japanese and Taiwanese economies are taking a hit right now. We wanted to come in with some conservative projections. So, of course, there’s some possibility that we’ll be wrong. We hope we will be. But based on our numbers right now, this is where we’re thinking we’ll land for quarter’s end.”
“Show me the year’s end projections.” My heart is pounding loudly in my ears. A bead of sweat is forming on my brow.
