Dominic sounded like he was going to cry on the phone. Everyone sounded like they were going to cry on the phone. I cried a little on the phone. (But I don’t think anyone heard me.)

A few hours ago, around 8.00 p.m., Tom called Dominic into his office.

According to Dominic the meeting lasted for eight minutes. But it felt like only two minutes.

Tom called him, didn’t even offer him a cup of coffee, didn’t even ask him to sit down, and proceeded to read off numbers from a long set of printouts. Then he told Dominic that this was a list of expenses that had been incurred by various members of the Dufresne project team over the last one month. The number added up to something like 32,000 pounds.

He told Dominic that this was a criminal waste of Lederman’s money. Tom said that so far the project had failed to provide any inputs that could help the bank financially.

Finally, and I could hear Dominic’s voice choking a little when he said this, Tom called the whole thing a ‘rotting heap of time waste’.

Tom then gave him an ultimatum. Either the project would be called off immediately. Or Dufresne could get back to him in 48 hours with a new project plan that made sense, made money and used no more than 5 Lederman staff and 5 Dufresne staff. Billing would be based on the actuals incurred.

After Dominic explained these conditions there was silence on the phone for at least five minutes. No one said a single world. Pin-drop silence.

Which is when I realized that my line had dropped. I immediately dialed in again. When I hooked up again Dominic was asking people for ideas.

Diary you know how I am usually very straightforward with my professional and personal dealings. If I had to list my strengths then integrity and honesty would come in the first and second positions respectively. If not at least in two out of the top three positions, along with world-class analytical skills.

But this was not any ordinary situation. An irresponsible madman was throwing away an opportunity to create a tremendous cultural and strategic overhaul of Lederman. Many management consultants would have given up.

I am not one of those consultants, Diary. My client comes first for me. If I were in a situation where I had to choose between, say, Gouri and Lederman, I would choose Lederman in a flash.

If integrity and honesty are my strengths, the client is my weakness. I cannot help it Diary.

So in that moment of weakness, no doubt you will have sympathy, I put forth an irresponsible suggestion in the conference call.

I asked Dominic if there was any way we could influence Tom’s decision.

He asked me what I meant.

I clarified.

What if we were able to convince Tom of the importance of this project through secondary auxiliary strategies? Such as profit sharing?