There is an old saying that says success is 99% sweating profusely. Or something like that. Well, for King Vikram and his descendants, 99% is just not cutting it. They need to step it up to 100% if they are to kill me. Why today, just as he has a thousand thousand times before, King Vikram hauled me from the tree on to his back and said proudly, Today I will kill you vampire!
And just like a thousand thousand times before I said, O’ King, let me tell me a story to pass the time.
At the end of the story, I will ask you a question. If you answer the question correctly, I will escape and fly away to my tree. But if you know the answer to the question and remain silent, your head will burst into a thousand pieces. Should this happen, your health insurance premiums will undoubtedly rise steeply.
Not very long ago, I began, in a town not very far away there was a CEO who ran a company. But all was not well. His operation was ailing and in his darker moments, the CEO couldn’t remember if the word profit began with a p. Just when it seemed that the giant boot of fate would squash the chewing gum of his aspirations, his fortunes took a turn for the better.
The giant boot of fate was squashing the chewing gum of his aspirations
He hired a man called Andrew (Andy only to his childhood sweetheart, who was now his wife). Andrew was a man with a keen intellect and thick rimmed glasses. As soon as he joined the company, Andrew went about setting things right.
First, he fired three people that had whiskey bottles on their desks in place of their pen stands. He also asked a gentleman who confused a word processor with a food processor to “leave at once”. The man left the office with a basket of onions that were decidedly not diced.
His actions bore immediate results. Profits at the startup took to the wings of an eagle and soared over the New York City skyline.
-Thank you Andy, said the CEO, giving credit where it was due.
-Andrew, his employee corrected (for he was Andy only to his childhood sweetheart, who was now his wife).
-You deserve a raise, said the CEO.
-I want more than that. I want a ten percent stake in the company, said Andy.
By all standards, it was an extravagant demand
By all standards, it was an extravagant demand.
But human beings are unique in how they place a value on other people based on the value these people place on themselves. If a man says he is good and says it with conviction, people will believe him. In fact, after a while it becomes difficult to convince them otherwise.
The CEO promptly agreed to Andrew’s request, and offered him a ten percent ownership stake in the company.
Andrew invested a quarter of the shares in his trading account. He divided the remaining shares into three parts – for his wife, an account for his son’s tuition, and a trust fund for a daughter who was still a minor.
One day, he attended a meeting with his CEO and the Chief Investor, a man that stared disapprovingly at the general populace through the lens of a monocle. The meeting was loud with arguments and the munching of potato chips, and as soon as it concluded the CEO ran off to the toilet.
As soon as the CEO left the room, the Chief Investor coughed discreetly. Andrew had grown up in America. He knew that when people coughed here, it wasn’t because they were suffering from the cold or the flu. There was usually a deeper underlying meaning.
He was right. The Chief Investor said, Andy…
-Andrew. Andrew corrected him (for he was Andy only to his childhood sweetheart, now his wife).
-Andrew, the Chief Investor said gamely, Given our high investment levels, we want an additional 10% stake in the company. We are planning to sack the CEO and take over his shares. You of course, will be the new CEO.
Andrew looked at the Chief Investor, his eyes welling over with emotion.
TO BE CONTINUED AND CONCLUDED TOMORROW.
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