Later that afternoon, all the directors sat in the board room as the marketing director went through the recommendations one by one. Adam listened patiently, keeping a straight face throughout the entire presentation. The marketing director was more and more nervous as he went along, Adam wasn"t reacting at all.Once the director finished going through the recommendations Adam addressed the room "What do the rest of you think?" He asked.
Most of the directors were too nervous to speak up. They couldn"t tell if Adam was pleased with any of the choices, and no one wanted to say the wrong thing.
"I think Emma is a very good possibility." Suzy said without hesitation. "She has more popularity than the rest of the recommendations, and she has a very strong presence when modeling. I"m confident she will be able to pull off such a grand piece."
Adam still gave no reaction. "And the rest of you?" He asked. Still no one said a word. "What is the point of paying you guys if you can"t even speak?" He asked sternly.
All of a sudden everyone was in a hurry to voice their opinions. As they discussed amongst themselves they soon came to the conclusion that, although none of the models were particularly bad choices, none of them were suitable. No one filled more than half the criteria.
"Is the marketing department still going through possibilities?" Adam asked.
"Yes sir." The director replied quickly. "So many models are eager for the chance to work with MK, and there are so many criterion to go through. The marketing department is working diligently."
"From now on don"t bring me any recommendations if they don"t meet at least three quarters of the criterion."
"Yes sir."
With that Adam swiftly stood up and left the board room. David followed closely behind. The directors in the board room all let out a heavy sigh once the two were out of sight.
"I"m old enough to be Adam"s father, so why am I so scared of him?" One of the directors mumbled.
"There are hundreds of models in this city alone. Can"t the marketing department find anyone better?" Another asked bitterly.
"It"s easy for you to say." The marketing director muttered. "I thought for sure he would be pleased with Emma."
Suzy frowned. So did she.
"We all agreed; Emma"s presence is too strong. If she wore the main piece she would end up overpowering it. Adam is very strict about the type of model he wants." Another director chimed in.
"That"s the problem." The marketing director spoke up again. "He"s too strict. It"s a jewellery launch. The main piece isn"t even for sale it"s just a show piece. As long as the model is beautiful and popular it should be fine."
The other"s all laughed at him. "That type of thinking is the reason that Adam Hayes is CEO and you"re just a director."
The director"s chatted for a few moments, but everyone was still busy, and so they slowly filed out of the room. The marketing director was about to leave as well, but Suzy caught up to him and pulled him to the side.
"Sir I think that although the CEO told you to continue looking, everyone can agree that Emma is the best choice we"ve had so far."
"What are you suggesting?" He asked suspiciously.
"Nothing. I just hope that you can continue to keep Emma on your list. After all, you"re right, there are too many criteria. Surely Mr. Hayes won"t ever find someone he"s truly pleased with. When the event draws nearer I hope he can agree that Emma is the best choice." Suzy said, with a smile on her face.
The director didn"t see any faults with what she was suggesting. What was the harm in keeping a Option B? So he agreed to keep Emma"s file to review again later.
As Suzy walked back to her office she got a text from Emma.
"Is the meeting over? How did it go? Are they willing to sign me?"
Suzy was embarra.s.sed, after all she had lead Emma to believe she would definitely be chosen. She was still confident that her plan would work, so she simply replied "MK hasn"t decided on anyone yet, but everyone agreed that you were the best option. I think you"ll hear good news soon."
Emma smiled and told her manager to cancel all her work for November. She couldn"t risk anything happening before the event.
Suzy was smiling to herself in her office as well. Things weren"t going as smoothly as she imagined, but they were still progressing well. At the time she had no idea about the domino effect that would soon follow.