Alpha Incorporated

II - i SOME RISE BY SIN, AND SOME BY VIRTUE FALL

Angelo once had a scarecrow. That was when he was articling for a law firm in New York City. It wasn't a real scarecrow, but a kid's toy. For Angelo, at the time, it was his power symbol. He remembers the institutional traders on Wall Street, how these men would adorn their terminals and monitors, their shrines, with icons and mantas. 'Trader sacked for screw-up' was a headline that one guy had blazoned across his computer screen. Another had a Yoda figurine with a toy pistol pointed at its head. But Angelo had a toy scarecrow. He was asked about it, every so often, by lawyers and traders in the firm. His answer: we must not make a scarecrow of the law. If you set up a scarecrow to strike fear into the birds of prey, yet never change it, the birds will get accustom to it and before long, end up using it as their perch.

Even as a student, Angelo was driven by his principles. And still is. He sees himself as unwavering. It is his resolved determination, drive and integrity that has brought him to this office, to the become the CEO of Alpha International. He wonders what happened to that scarecrow. There is room on this massive desk for a power symbol. One of those Inuit soapstone carvings, perhaps. Maybe a statuette of a wolf.

Charles Escalus turns from the full length window that looks east over San Francisco Bay and addresses Angelo. "You know, this isn't going to be an easy transition."

It is Saturday morning. The two men are setting up for a marathon day of strategic planning, so that it will be an easy transition. Roll up your your sleeves and get it, Angelo likes to say. He wants to hammer out as much of the practical matters as they can, the two of them, before it gets watered down by committees and consultations. He and Charles are alike in that respect, although Escalus takes too long to ponder things. It might be his age. Angelo's goal is straightforward, his objectives clear and measurable: to throw down on the table at Monday's strategy meeting the blueprint forward. Philosophically, he and Escalus, and the Board, are already there. Now it is just details.

"Charles, I have got a good start on this. Things are already in motion, my friend. We merely need to watch the plan unfold." Angelo hears his words echo off the office walls, the glass and steel of his den.

Angelo knows that Charles understands what he means. He was part of the plan from the outset. Vincent Duke's vision of the company—the liberal, feel good, let the employees dictate their own work-life balance—those new age management ideals take the company away from where they need to be going. Face it, who controls the wealth of the world? Who owns the corporations? Who calls the shots? It isn't the weak, peace-loving do-gooders. No, Angelo is convinced: the meek might inherit the earth, but it is the strong who are ruling it. It's not a philosophical position as much as it is just good business. The strong admire the strong, you need to have money to make money, play the game to win, all that. It's about aligning with those like-minded leaders who decide where the wealth will be distributed. And with the way the Christian holy-rollers call the shots in government, it's best to play their game if the defence contracts for drones and robot warfare are going to come to Alpha. Yes, it's time to clean house around here.

Charles approaches Angelo's desk and stands next to him. "We still need to proceed cautiously. The problem with having given all this freedom to the workers is that they now think they are entitled to it, like it is their right. History shows that people, generally, don't give up freedom without a fight."

"On the contrary Charles. A good leader makes the people want to turn over their freedom—willingly. Nature is such that the masses see the comfort in the order of things. It is our job—my job—to make them want to seek the peace and security of not having to make decisions. Think of it as the old days of corporate paternalism."

"Fair enough, Angelo, but this is my fear: you pull in the reins, tighten the rules to create the optics that will please our conservative friends—but what about those whose lives will be affected by these new rules? Don't you think that there will be a backlash among the workers? Perhaps we show some leniency now and then. Like toward that guy in the Optical Division who knocked up his secretary. You heard about him right? That might be a place to show some compromise."