Friday, 6:30 AM.
The first-level authorities, commonly known as the leaders, supervisors, or managers together with the Pioneers, have gathered early in the morning in the exclusive meeting room to report the statistics and performances of the employees in each department for the past few weeks.
The Pioneers of World Spectrum Enterprises, Inc. has four top bosses. They are the ones assigned to manage the company in lieu of management by the owner of the company itself.
The 4th Pioneer is Ekarius Valente Fontaine, known as Val, the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and Department Head of Sales. He is a Ukrainian-French and a business management graduate from INSEAD Business School found in Fontainebleau, near Paris. His personality is known to be a guy that can get any girl even though he's an asshole. He does not do the relationship type of shit.
The 3rd Pioneer is Ekaterina Velika Fontaine, known as Katerina and Val’s younger sister. She is the CPO (Chief Product Officer) and Department Head of Marketing. She is also a business management graduate, but from HEC Paris. Her personality is quite similar to her brother. She’s known to be an extremely intelligent, attractive, and seductive woman who has a tendency to use men in many ways either for sex, money, help, attention, and support. She never falls in love with a man, but rather uses him and takes the advantages that he gives her.
The 2nd Pioneer is Sebastian Seymour, whose nickname is Seb. He’s one of the candidates for the CEO position of the company and the Department Head of Creative Development. He is a Media Arts graduate with a Master’s degree from NYU. His personality is known to be an individual who does not conform to the thoughts, or beliefs of others. He tends to be considered very strange, but in reality, was more accomplished than many that follow the normal.
And last but not the least, the 1st Pioneer. His name is Thomas Wade Hankinson, called by his father in the name of Tom when he’s peeved at him. He’s the other candidate for the CEO position and the Department Head of Advertising Management. He is an Advertising graduate with a Master’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin. His personality is known to be someone that usually walks around with his hands in his pockets. He is the owner of multiple V-necks he wears on a daily basis. He is manly and good-looking. There is also a high probability that he plays guitar, but for some reason does not use his musical ability to draw women closer to him.
The Pioneers sat down as soon as they arrived inside the meeting room. They were immediately served a cup of coffee based on their usual and preferred mixture. They later opened the folders in front of them where the copies of the employee performance evaluation forms were.
“Shall we begin the meeting?” Thomas initiated.
Everyone agreed. They first began with the report of Val’s department manager. Next to them was Katerina’s department manager, and then next was Sebastian’s department manager. After getting done with the evaluation of the first three batches of employees, Thomas’s department manager, Shirley Stratton, immediately followed.
Shirley stood up in the middle, proceeding with her report. She was honest in her reports, especially in the incident between Angie and Adeline. But she only kept one secret, and that was about Sandra’s betrayal and taking advantage of the other employee’s misfortunes.
“That would be all for my department, boss-”
“Wait for a second, manager Stratton," Thomas called her attention.
Shirley remained calm even though she was getting uncomfortable with the situation. Even though she is a manager, it would be impossible for her in all cases of knowing something that others don’t know. One of them is the worry of whether someone has already caught her with her awful doings while in the company.
“Who has proved that Angie was the one who really sabotaged the work of one of your employees?” he asked her.
“Based on my knowledge and the incident I encountered that day of the confrontation, the victim watched the CCTV footage and she based her accusations on the familiar items she saw the suspect was wearing, seen from the footage. Another of my employees supported her statement and confirmed that Angie was the actual suspect," Shirley explained.
Thomas nodded at her, showing he’s content with the provided answer. He then glanced at the other Pioneer members.
“I’m good. How about you guys?” he asked them.
Katerina raised her left eyebrow while playing with the pen she’s holding. She glanced at Sebastian, who was leaning on his seat tiredly.
“I would like to know ze company status.”
Everyone glanced at her in surprise.
“What do you mean?” Val, who also has a strong French accent just like his sister, asked her.
“I just want to know if zey still know ze company status I am referring to. So for ze three of you, shh.” She smirked before pointing heads to the managers.
The managers couldn’t answer because they weren’t sure what Katerina was really aiming for about the company’s status.
“You see? I just noticed. We always do ze employees' performance evaluation monthly, but even zeir managers don't even remember what zey should remember.”
Katerina stood up from her seat and went in front.
“I received an anonymous report about employees stalking one of ze Pioneer members,” she said.
Katerina's statement shocked everyone.
“How come we didn’t know that?” Thomas asked her.
“Who is zis person you’re talking about?” Val added.
She crossed her arms. "Maybe I do have ze right not to say who ze person I'm referring to is, don't I?"
Everyone inside the meeting room remained silent.
Thomas sighed before looking at the managers.
"First-level authorities, I expect you to implement the rules this company has provided for a long period of time. And that is to maintain the Pioneers' identities unknown," he said.
The managers agreed, except for Shirley. It has been only three years since she started working for the company, and she still doesn't understand the validity of the rules enforced by her superiors.
"Why?" she suddenly asked.
The Pioneers glanced in her direction.
"I don't understand the reason for these kinds of rules," Shirley added.
"Manager Stratton, not everything will be understood by anyone. We have informed you about the reasons, might as well keep it all to yourself," Thomas explained.
Katerina got intrigued by Shirley and so she slowly approached her. It intimidated the latter by how the female boss looks at her.
"Tom," Katerina called for Thomas. "Is zis your department manager?"
"Yes, indeed."
Katerina remained to stare at Shirley. "Just a small piece of advice, Tom, try to be more strict with your staff, especially with ze manager so zat zey know ze place zey should be."
"Katerina, spare her, would you?" Sebastian finally spoke up before he got up from his seat.
Katerina gave a creepy innocent smile after giving Shirley an intimidating stare. She went back to her place to get her personal things on the table.
"Are we done here?" Val asked them.
"I think so." Thomas also got up from his seat and cleaned up his table.
"By ze way," Katerina spoke again before completely leaving the meeting room. "Those who fail to comply with ze company law will be subject to severe penalties and can never ever step inside all ze facilities owned by World Spectrum Enterprises, Inc."
"Hey, you should stop scaring zem," Val told her.
Katerina gave all the managers a warning look before leaving the meeting room with Sebastian and followed by Val. Thomas looked at the managers who were left inside the meeting room with him.
"Don't worry too much about what Katerina is saying. She's just not really in a good mood right now," he convinced them.
They remained quiet.
"Well, it's nice to see you all today. I know it has been a long time since we came back from the business trip, but I would like to thank you all for doing such a great job."
"You're welcome, boss." The managers told him.
He nodded at them. "I will be leaving now."
Based on the company's soon-to-become predecessor, in order to be an effective CEO, the candidate needs to be both confident in their abilities and willing to admit their faults. Be certain of their decisions, but open to feedback and change.
They have to be dedicated to their vision while continuing to ask questions and consider other potential outcomes.
Master the duality of effective business leadership.