Barry looked at a piece of fish before he ate it. He said, “Well, you have fish that swim in schools, and other fish who swim out on their own. Which one are you, Ivan?”

Ivan felt more comfortable with an assertive approach from Barry than a passive approach. A passive boss was much harder to read. But he could respond to the assertive approach with intellectual confidence.

“Well, every fish has to learn how to swim first. But I believe a dolphin is the most cooperative. They can swim in a school, a small group, in a pair, or break off and swim by themselves when they need to. So I would consider myself to be a dolphin.”

John frowned and said, “Dolphins are considered mammals, aren’t they?”

Ivan kept his poise. He said, “If they are, then I guess I’m not a fish at all. I’m just a mammal who happens to swim fast.”

After they shared a laugh, Barry said, “Actually, dolphins are a very social group of animals. And they are considered to be one of the most intelligent, dolphins and, ah…”

“Killer whales,” John filled in before taking another bite of raw fish. “The orcas.”

That wasn’t quite the answer Barry had been searching for, but it fit. Killer whales were known as the masters of the sea. Nevertheless, Ivan didn’t like the reference. So he tried to tone things down a bit.

“I’m definitely not one of those,” he commented.

“Not yet,” John argued, eating another piece of fish.

Barry said, “Well, killer whales can be social, too. By the way, they’re my favorite part of going to SeaWorld.”

On that note, Ivan had to get away from the table for a minute. He chuckled and stood up to excuse himself. “Yeah, let me go use the restroom.”

As soon as he walked away, Barry asked his partner, “What are you doing, John? Relax.”

John snapped, “Relax? Look, Barry, we need to get this kid to be honest with us. He’s not a damn dolphin, he’s a killer whale in training. So we’re either gonna feed him what he feels he’s worth, or he’s gonna eat up everything in the tank.”

Barry shook if off. He stopped and asked, “So, what are we gonna offer him now, a full partnership, John? This kid isn’t ready for that.”

“Well, we’re gonna have to offer him something, and fast. He’s already thinking about being in on the much bigger deals, I can assure you of that,” John insisted. He said, “This kid is looking at the whole ocean now. He’s just sitting over there biding his time.”