The Russian Crisis

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The board discussed the plan and the numbers for another two hours. In the end, having set a record for the longest board session in JPI history, the directors voted. They approved the software development, marketing and new advertising numbers but they refused to approve a new budget for PR even though it was the smallest of all raises.

Jackson thought to himself the denial of PR money showed how much the directors feared 'going public' even to defend against a major crisis. They thought they would stay in the shadows instead of being named as directors of JPI or as potential spokespeople. It was a typical reaction of a majority of executives, thought Jackson.

He made another mental note to talk to Lorraine - she had backed the PR expenditure - about choosing a new board down the line. Perhaps a year down the road in line with the release of JPI Version 3.0 for MLD&T.

No one else knew of the board's discussions. They had to remain secret until Jackson won board approval. They also had to remain secret to deny at least this much inside information to the thief. According to everything discovered by Barry and Jean, the thief had to be among the executive or senior managerial ranks.

Jackson thought for a moment that this definition would include Barry and Jean. He dismissed that idea as simply too much to handle. If either of them was a thief, Jackson would go back to his super cottage and row his whole island out to the middle of Georgian Bay.

As the afternoon progressed, lunch forgotten, Jackson borrowed an office at Lorraine's company and set to work making phone calls. The first and easiest call he made was to Payne, JPI's CFO. Payne received Jackson's news calmly, as he did most monumental information.

"A hundred million. Reminds me when you talked me into joining JPI when it had no money, no offices and, according to me, no hope." Payne chuckled.

"Back then, a hundred dollars would have looked good. I was looking at draining our savings and pensions. We were nuts." Jackson's memories flooded back. They were good.

"Okay, I think we can do it on that," said Payne as he ruminated. "We can borrow and pay back out of profits."

"If there are any."

"We'll have a long meet with Rebecca in Marketing," said Payne referring to Rebecca Rollins, JPI's Marketing VP, "... but I think this could even be good for the company. If we can meet the deadline. One year for a total redo of MLD&T would set some kind of record."

"Then, I had better move my butt. See you later, Payne." And Jackson was off and running.

His second call was to Mariah Belo who was ecstatic at the approval of the board for Version 3.0 development but upset by the lack of approval for a special PR budget.

"I guess we'll have to make do with what we have, Jackson," she told him in the brief call.

"I was the one who thought crisis communications was a skillset we needed, Mariah. I can top up the funding whenever you need it. I've got deep pockets and few places to spend it."

He told the rest of JPI's executive staff after advising Jean and Barry of the work they would have in store. Both of them groaned at the news but he could tell, behind the moaning, both of them were tremendously excited and eager to get to work on a whole new set of solutions.

His reception by the rest of the leadership team was muted. It was a lot to take in, particularly for Fred Nbodo and Carmen Flores. The COO bristled at not having a vote in the plan Jackson took to the board. "You should have told us, Jackson. We're the ones that will spend half of every night in the office up to our necks in unwashed programmers." Then she asked, "What did Maxim say to the board."

Jackson revealed that Maxim had refused to attend the meeting and that the board had gone ahead without him. She was aghast. There was no winning this battle, Jackson thought as he told the distraught woman he had to reach others. He told her he would advise Blax about the board's decisions but he doubted she heard a word he was saying at the end of the tense call.

Maxim Blax was last to be called by Jackson. Phillips had wanted to get buy-in from the rest of leadership before he confronted Blax. As it turned out, Jackson was spared the face-off. Blax refused three of his calls before Phillips gave up and prepared to head back to his condo for the evening. 'You can lead a horse to water,' Jackson told himself.