Page 74 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

A CONTRACT BEATS A CARROT ANYTIME
The problem is that you often have to rely on the word of your boss, who
may be utterly trustworthy or as manipulative as a snake. Let me tell you
about the time I was wooed by the head of a good-sized advertising agency
that employed 200 people. Let’s call him Fred.
Fred played the part of the poor misunderstood entrepreneur and gave
me this big song and dance:“The junior partners don’t know what they’re
doing. I need someone smart like you.”
He told me that I’d be the number two
YOUR GOAL HERE guy at the agency. He offered me more
IS TO WIND UP AS money than my father had made in 10
THE MOST TRUSTED years, and I was only 30 years old.
PERSON IN THE I was ready to take the job after the first
BOSS’S STABLE. lunch. But Fred wanted to keep wooing,
so we had lunch three times at the Four
Seasons in New York City. Each time, he
ruined more cloth napkins with his magic marker, sweetening my deal. He
threw in a Corvette and a big advance and six weeks’ vacation. And then for
every account I landed, I would get 5 percent of the first year’s billing.
Of course I took this deal. Wouldn’t you? Coincidentally, Sparks Steak
House was right across the street from my new place of employment, the
spot where mafia boss Paul Castellano would be gunned down on John
Gotti’s orders. Something not entirely dissimilar happened to me.
Here I was, all enthusiastic, installed in an office next to the big boss—
and Fred just threw me to the wolves.As soon as he got me there, he hardly
deigned to say a word to me.
There was a new account we were pitching, and I stayed up two whole
nights working on the presentation, which I was very proud of. I walked
into Fred’s office to show it to him and the first thing he said to me was,
“Your hair is too long.”
Then he flipped through the presentation, ripped it into four pieces,
and threw it at my head, with a pleasant,“This is a pile of garbage. I can’t

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