ASLEEP AT THE GATE

Contrary to the beliefs of outsiders—media, competitors, even his own friends—Rich’s success was not as easy to maintain as it looked. Even with his more manageable schedule, he was constantly focused on the list, and immersing himself in one or more of the four disciplines. It was a regimen he gladly accepted.

But every human being gets tired, and after eight years of running the company, Rich O’Connor had become very tired.

So, with some urging from his wife, he agreed to take a sabbatical of sorts, six weeks with his family at Lake Tahoe. No e-mail. No conference calls. The only connection to work would be a weekly fifteen-minute update from his trustworthy COO, Tom Givens.

When Tom called after just three days at the lake, Rich knew it must be important.

“Hey, I’m sorry to do this. I know we’re supposed to talk on Tuesdays, but I need your go-ahead on something right away.”

Rich was secretly glad to be talking to Tom. He wasn’t yet comfortable with the idea of being away from the firm for so long. He joked with his colleague: “Don’t apologize to me. You’re going to have to deal with Laura. If she finds out I’m talking to you, you’ll be looking for a new job.”

Tom laughed. “Okay. I’ll keep it short. I think I’ve finally found a replacement for Maurine, and I want to make an offer. It’s the guy from Seattle who you spoke to on the phone before you left.”

“But I won’t be able to meet him for a few weeks still. I thought we agreed to hold off on . . .”

Tom tended to interrupt people as soon as he knew where they were headed. It was a quality that, after many earnest attempts, he was unable to correct. No one held it against him. “But, Rich, I think this is a special situation. The guy knows how to manage the HR side of acquisitions, and he has a résumé that looks better than yours and mine put together. He’s got two other offers—one is from Greenwich—so we need to move right away. And Joel over at Mena Ventures says he’s good.”

None of this persuaded Rich. “First of all, I don’t care if Green-wich or anyone else is offering him a job. And second, you know how I feel about this. Especially someone at this level. Sorry, Tom. It’ll have to wait.”

Rich was accustomed to fighting Tom and his other reports on issues like this from time to time. And he didn’t mind doing so. In fact, there was something comforting about it. He recognized that it was Tom’s job to get things done as quickly as possible, which included hiring enough employees, while it was his own responsibility to preserve the culture, which included making sure those people were a good fit for Telegraph. Everyone appreciated the balancing effect of Rich’s role, even if it made for occasional episodes of constructive conflict.

Trying one last time to see if he could persuade his boss, Tom worded his plea carefully. “Rich, you know that I buy into the importance of your interviews. But this isn’t the CFO position we’re talking about, or even a practice director for that matter. It’s the head of human resources. And we aren’t going to find someone else this qualified any time soon.”

Maybe it was because he was on vacation with his family, but for the first time Rich O’Connor didn’t hold his ground completely. “What did everyone think of him?”

Shocked that he had an opening, Tom couldn’t help but exaggerate a little. “They loved him. They couldn’t believe the strength of his résumé. And with the acquisitions we’ve got coming early next year, they think he could be very useful.”

After three months of serving as the acting head of HR, Tom was desperate to fill the position. He decided not to mention that Rita, Telegraph’s legal counsel, hadn’t met the candidate yet. Most important of all, he really didn’t see anything wrong with the guy.

“What about the cultural stuff? I’m assuming he meets all three of the criteria.” Rich didn’t need to remind his COO about the importance of the firm’s values. All employees who had been with Telegraph for more than a few months knew that no matter how impressive their background or skills might have been, they had made it into the firm because they were found to be humble, hungry, and smart.

Tom hesitated just a little. “I think so. Yes. He does.”

Rich almost laughed. “Come on, Tom. That’s no ringing endorsement. Does he or doesn’t he?”

“Well, everyone who’s seen him thinks he’s extremely smart.”

“Which is the least important of the three,” Rich reminded him.

“Right. And in terms of hunger, according to his references, he has the work ethic of a mule. They practically had to send him home half the time at Jensen.”

That wasn’t necessarily what Rich was looking for in staff members, but it didn’t hurt. “What about humility?”

Tom cleared his throat. “We think he’s humble. We checked his references and heard nothing negative.” Tom searched for more evidence to support his wishful thinking. “We did speak to one person who worked for him, someone he actually wants to bring with him at some point. She thinks the guy walks on water. And by the way, she might be able to fill that internal communication position you’ve been talking about.”

Rich ignored Tom’s persuasive maneuver. “How did he interview? Did you take him to the pier?”

Rich liked to test candidates who were on the verge of being hired by taking them places completely outside the typical interview experience, to see how they would react. Pier 39 was one of his favorites, because its touristy nature made it chaotic and tacky enough to unnerve someone who wasn’t down to earth.

“We didn’t,” Tom admitted. “Unfortunately, we only had a few hours for all the interviews. But everyone seems to like him.”

Rich didn’t care if people liked the guy. He knew that most people at this level had learned how to be likable during interviews. “What did Rita think?”

Tom winced. “Rita was out of the office today, and she’s been too busy to do a phone interview yet.”

Rich was silent, so Tom rallied to try and save the situation. “Listen, we both knew that replacing Maurine was going to be impossible. We all want to pull her out of retirement, but we can’t. And I just don’t think we’re going to find someone like her no matter how long we wait.”

The silence on the other end of the line told Tom to keep talking: “Besides, we did most of the behavioral interview, and everyone, including Janet and Mark, agreed that we should hire him. And as soon as she can, I’ll have Rita talk to him.”

Yet more silence, so Tom added, “And I think you need to start trusting us on things like this.”

That was the clincher. Rich would later claim that he momentarily lost his ability to separate his role as a vacationing husband and father from his responsibility for protecting the interests of the firm. Whatever the case, Tom couldn’t believe it when, after a long pause, his boss said, “Okay. Have Rita meet the guy, and then if she says he’s all right, do it. What’s his name again?”

“Jamie. Jamie Bender. You’re going to like him.” The next morning, Rich felt an odd sense of relief at having relinquished a little of his responsibility to Tom. Nothing terrible has happened, he thought to himself. Maybe I’ve been overestimating the importance of my role.

Just three months later, Rich would be beside himself with frustration about Jamie, and he would have only himself to blame.