"Fine," he says, and buzzes Meg. "Can you call Hilton, Na- than, and Johnny Jons in here please."

"What's going on?" I ask him.

"Don't worry, just wait and see," he says calmly.

It's not long before they all enter the room and take seats.

"Hilton," Bill turns to him, "you heard Alex's report this morning. You've also seen all the financial results. As the produc- tivity manager of the division, and as a fellow plant manager, what's your recommendation?"

"I think that Alex should be called to order," he says in a formal voice. "And I think that immediate actions should be taken in his plant before it's too late. The productivity in Alex's plant is deteriorating, cost of products is going up, and proper procedures are not being followed. I think that immediate actions are in order."

Ethan Frost clears his throat, and when we all look at him

267

he says, "And what about the fact that in the last two months that plant has turned profits rather than losses, while releasing a lot of cash for the division?"

"That is only a temporary phenomenon," Hilton states. "We must expect big losses in the very near future."

"Johnny, do you have anything to add?" Bill asks.

"Yes, certainly. Alex's plant is the only one that can produce miracles-to deliver what the client needs in a surprisingly short time. You've all heard about Burnside's visit. With such a plant backing up sales, they can really go out and blast the market."

"Yes, but at what price?" Hilton reacts. "Cutting batches to far below optimum size. Devoting the entire plant to one order. Do you know the long-term ramifications?"

"But I haven't devoted the plant to one order!" I can't con- tain my anger. "As a matter of fact, I haven't got any past-due orders. All my clients are pleased."

"Miracles exist only in fairy tales," Hilton says cynically.

Nobody says a word. At last I cannot hold back, "So what's the verdict-is my plant going to be closed?"

"No," says Bill. "Not at all. Do you think we're such bad managers that we would close a gold mine?"

I sigh in relief. Only now do I notice I've been holding my breath.

"As manager of productivity of the division," Hilton says with a red face, "I feel it's my duty to protest."

Bill ignores him, and turning to Ethan and Johnny he asks, "Shall we tell them now, or wait until Monday?"

They both laugh.

"Hilton, this morning I asked you to sit in for me because we were meeting with Granby. Two months from now the three of us are moving up the ladder, to head the group. Granby left it to us to decide who will be the next manager of the division. I think that the three of us have decided. Congratulations, Alex; you will be the one to replace me."

When I return to the plant, Fran hands me a message "It's from Bill Peach. What's going on?"

"Call everybody. I have some good news," I smile.

Bill's message is: "I recommend you use these two months to prepare yourself. You still have a lot to learn, hotshot."

268

At last I'm able to reach Jonah in New York and fill him in on the latest developments. Although pleased for me, he does not seem surprised.

"And all this time I just worried about saving my one plant," I tell him. "Now it seems that I'm ending up with three."

"Good luck," says Jonah. "Keep up the good work."

Hurriedly, before he hangs up I ask in a desperate voice, "I'm afraid that luck will not be enough; I'm out of my depth. Can't you come down and help me?" I haven't spent two hours tracking down Jonah just to hear his congratulations. Frankly, I'm terrified at the prospect of my new job. It's one thing to handle a production plant, but handling a division of three plants does not mean just three times the work, it also means responsi- bility for product design and marketing.

"Even if I had the time, I don't think it's a good idea," I hear his disappointing answer.

"Why not? It seemed to work fine so far."

"Alex," he says in a stern voice, "as you climb up the ladder and your responsibilities grow, you should learn to rely more and more on yourself. Asking me to come now will lead to the oppo- site; it will increase the dependency."

I refuse to see his point. "Can't you continue to teach me?"

"Yes, I can," he answers. "But first you should find out ex- actly what it is that you want to learn. Call me then."

I don't give up easily. "I want to learn how to run an efficient division, isn't it obvious?"

"In the past you wanted to learn how to run an efficient plant," Jonah sounds impatient. "Now you want to learn how to run an efficient division. We both know that it will not end here. What is it that you want to learn? Can you spell it out?"

"Actually, I guess that I want to learn how to manage-a plant, a division, a company, any type or size organization." After a second of hesitation I add, "It wouldn't be bad to learn how to manage my life, but I'm afraid that would be asking for too much."

"Why too much?" says Jonah to my surprise. "I think that every sensible person should want to learn how to manage his or her life."

"Great, when can we start?" I ask eagerly.

"Now. Your first assignment is to find out what techniques are needed for effective management."

269

"What?" I ask in a choked voice.

"Come on, I didn't ask you to develop them, just to deter- mine clearly what they should be. Call me when you have the answer. And Alex, congratulations on your promotion."

"I'm really proud of you. Three more steps like that and we will have made it. Shall we drink to it?"

Julie's forced enthusiasm strikes a responding chord inside me. "No, I don't think so." I refuse the toast, an event which, as you can imagine, is not very common.

Julie doesn't say a word. She just slowly lowers her drink, leans slightly forward, and looks directly into my eyes. It's quite apparent that she is waiting for some explanation.

Under the pressure I start to talk slowly, trying to verbalize my rambling thoughts. "Julie, I really don't think that we should toast it, at least not in the way you make it sound, like toasting an empty victory. Somehow I feel that you were right all along- what is this promotion if not just winning a point in the rat race?"

"Hmm," is her only response.

My wife can express herself very clearly without even open- ing her mouth-which is definitely not the case for me. Here I am, rambling all over the place... 'Rat race'... 'Empty vic- tory.' What on earth am I talking about? But still, why do I feel it's inappropriate to toast my promotion?

"The family paid too big a price for this promotion," I finally say.

"Alex you're being too hard on yourself. This crisis was about to explode one way or the other."

She continues, "I gave it a lot of thought and let's face it, if you had given up, the feeling of failure would have spoiled every good part of our marriage. I think you should be proud of this promotion. You didn't step on anybody to get it; you won it fair and square."

A chill goes down my back as I remember it. I was in deep trouble. My plant was under a real threat of being closed down; over six hundred people were about to join the already long un- employment lines; my career was one inch from being kissed by limbo; and on top of all that, the unbelievable hours I was putting in at work had pushed our marriage to the brink of going down the tube. In short, I was about to change from a bright, rising star into an ordinary bum.