Rex by Lori Wilde

Author:Lori Wilde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lori Wilde

Rex hung up the phone. He got to his feet, folded his arms across his chest, and walked over to the floor-length windows of his father’s executive office. He stared out at the parking lot beyond.

Soon, this would be his office, his domain when his father retired, but for now, it still belonged to Thurgood, who was, at this very moment, leaning back in his swivel leather chair, studying Rex with a hard eye.

“What do you think is the best way to go about revealing my identity to the employees?” Mike asked.

“Call a meeting and I’ll introduce you. But I’ll warn you now, Rex, this will not be easy. The employees know you as Mike the handyman. Don’t be surprised if they resent you for spying on them.”

“Dad, it had to be done. If I hadn’t gone undercover to study how the company works, I would never have discovered that my former assistant was selling company secrets to the competition or that Peter Randall in the stockroom had been stealing us blind for years.”

“Your charade served its purpose,” Thurgood said, “but I can’t help wondering if it will not cost you more in the long run.”

“What do you mean?” Rex asked sharply.

“The price of goodwill. By hiding your identity and circulating among the employees without their knowledge, they will feel like they can’t trust you.”

“Ha! I’m the one who can’t trust them.”

“I realize that,” Thurgood said. “And it’s your shortcoming, not theirs.”

Rex frowned and stared at his father. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ve got a problem with trust, son.”

“I wonder why that is,” Rex said, unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

A pained expression crossed his father’s face. “I know I wasn’t usually there for you when you were growing up, and I’ll sorely regret it. But you’ve got to let go of the past. I’ve tried to make amends. Inability to trust will keep you from becoming a truly great leader. You need to delegate more. You can’t do everything yourself.”

“You’re right,” Rex admitted.

“I know I’m partly to blame. We rose up the social ladder so quickly. I know there were a lot of kids who pretended to be your friend because of who your father was. You never knew who you could trust. I know that bothered you more than your brother. I also know that Erica made things worse. But you can’t go around suspecting everyone all the time. Sometimes you’ve simply got to trust people.”

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with questioning motives, Dad. Everyone, no matter how nice, has a hidden agenda. Some might say you go to the opposite extreme, that you want people to like you so much that you’ll turn a deaf ear to a bad situation.”

Anger flared in his father’s dark-brown eyes. “I’ve learned a few things over the years about human nature, son, things they don’t teach you in Harvard Business School. It’s important to trust people until they give you a reason not to.”

Rex sighed. It wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.

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