He leaned back and steepled his hands in front of his face. “Do you know what I do? I help teams like yours figure out how to be successful in this new world. There’s always room for improvement. In your case, you need to find a way to be profitable and not lose more money.”
“Fine. But you also recommend sales of teams if they don’t meet your standards, and you lay people off without considering the impacts.” She smiled, an almost predatory look. “Yes, I had you researched before you came. I wonder what else I’ll find when I have more time?”
“You’re just a guppy in this pond. Sometimes hard decisions are required for the end result.” He gave a half-shrug, knowing he was in the power position.
“The ends justify the means? I thought you understood this is a family business. Every member of our staff has been here almost since the beginning. Your father knew that and treated people like family, not numbers.” She straightened in her seat, shoulders back as if she were prepared to fight to defend her staff right then and there.
“If my father was still in charge, you wouldn’t be in this position.”
“Do you really believe that?” She countered in a soft voice.
This time, he frowned, suppressing a flicker of defensiveness. “That’s irrelevant. He’s not here and you are. And we have a mess on our hands. Once you took money from the league, you accepted the conditions. Now it’s time to pay up, in more ways than one.”
She sighed and leaned forward, one hand on her knee. “Fine, I agree. So what do we do now?”
“We need to figure that out.” He paused and studied her for a long moment. “And you need to decide which side you’re on.”