Style, you
either have it or you
don't. And if you have it, you have it
all the time.The Rogue Goes to the Dogs
by Tux Toledo
Page 10
"Yes.
Severance pay, you could call it. Most high-ranking
executives have clauses in their contracts that give them outrageous
sums of money if they lose their jobs when their company is taken
over. Spectrum’s CEO wanted the job so bad that he agreed to
accept it without a golden parachute. And of course no one
likes to be removed from a leadership position. Spectrum's
CEO deserves to be replaced, though. The company is worth
more broken up and sold than it is as an ongoing business.
That's his fault. I'm going to sell off the entire company
after I buy it."
"Leaving Spectrum's CEO unemployed."
"That's the law of the jungle, Mr. Churchill. We're talking
about competency and value to the shareholders. It's been a
very messy fight with lots of bad press. But in the end he'll
lose. In my opinion, he'll get what he deserves."
"I suppose so."
"I just wish Concorde would get back to normal. That bothers
me more than anything. I can't understand what's wrong with
him, and I hate things I can't understand. I don't suppose
you understand."
"I understand."
"It's funny," he said. "Sport is supposed to take my mind off
work. Here I am working to take my mind off sport."
He said nothing more about the merger and spent the rest of the time
talking about dogs.
"Did you know, Mr. Churchill, that the forebears of the modern hunting
dog came to England from Spain?"
"No, I didn't."
"That's how the spaniel got its name. The spaniel's a good
dog, but I prefer pointers. You see, spaniels are bred for a
different purpose. When a pointer finds the game, he points
at it, keeping it down until the hunter gets there. The
spaniel flushes out the game. The spaniel, therefore, is a
smaller dog, better able to penetrate thickets.
"You know, I've got a two hundred year old print of an English
Pointer. I bought it in England. The dog in the
print looks just like Concorde. These dogs haven't changed in
centuries. The sport has stayed the same too. I
guess that's part of its attraction. I spend all of my time
changing things, acquiring and merging. The stability of this
sport is a welcome diversion."
Nick lapsed into thought and didn't speak again until we had reached a
privately owned wooded area near the Mendocino National Forest, far
north of San Francisco. Motor homes and horse trailers filled
the parking area the way bees fill a hive.
"I didn't know the sport was so popular," I said.
© 2008 David Biagini