We walk along the corridor of the main floor until we find an empty meeting room and duck inside. Emmanuel closes the door behind us.

‘I am so sorry, Alex. This is not my doing, I promise you.’

‘So, who’s “doing” is it?’ I’m unable to hide my frustration.

‘I was told this morning. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I trust you and I think it’s important you understand what’s going on. It seems her father has finally succeeded in bending the ear of the chief exec. I’m not happy about it. It undermines my role as a leader and this is not what this company is meant to be about.’

My blood feels like it’s at boiling point and I want to scream with frustration. ‘She doesn’t demonstrate any of the key behaviours in the leadership framework. Also, I thought the programme was only open to staff at my level and above. She’s a grade below.’

‘I agree, and it is. But strings have been pulled here. The one saving grace is that, because she’s at a more junior grade, the chief exec has been clear that she’s only to benefit from the development at this stage. She won’t be up for consideration for any of the leadership positions on offer at the end of it.’

‘I suppose that’s something. But it’s still unfair to everyone else who works their backsides off. Sorry, I know I’m probably overstepping things here, but it’s just not right.’

‘Do not apologise.’ Emmanuel takes a seat opposite me and looks me square in the eye. ‘You have every right to feel this way, Alex, and you’re not the only one who does. As you know, Felix was really keen to get on the programme. You can imagine how he’s feeling this morning.’

‘Of course, yeah. Perhaps I should shut up then. At least I’m on it. He deserves it a hundred times more than she does.’

‘You don’t need to “shut up”. The fact that you care so deeply about this shows me – even more – that you’re exactly the right person to be on the programme. My advice: forget she’s there and take everything you can from it. Do not let Danielle get in the way of your career opportunities.’

‘Don’t worry. I don’t intend to.’

‘That’s the spirit.’ Emmanuel gives me a supportive pat on the arm. ‘Now, have you time for a spot of lunch?’

By the time the day is over, my mind is jangling with business jargon, strategic challenges and snippets of leadership theory. I can tell it’s going to be a great programme – even with Danielle attempting to hog the limelight and show how amazing she is at every possible opportunity. The rest of the group have cottoned on to her pretty fast, and her suggested team-bonding run has already fallen by the wayside. They didn’t want to leave anyone out: me and one of the others, who declared that the words ‘running’ and ‘fun’ should never feature in the same sentence. So we’re going for lunch together instead.