You come in for 60 days as a consultant. Same deliverable as the full role. Full access, but no permanence. At the end of 60 days, I want an assessment from you in writing your own words of whether you believe the division as designed is structurally sound. Whether you believe you can run it, a pause.
And if you believe you can, you take the title and the full compensation. And if I don't believe I can, then you tell me what would need to change. And we change it. And we give you 30 more days. She held his gaze.
I'm not interested in filling a position. I'm interested in building something real. That takes whoever the right person is on whatever timeline the right person needs. He looked at her. 60 days.
He said 60 days. He thought about Calvin Briggs. Thought about nine years of going in when other people were coming out. Thought about four years of making himself small. Thought about Maya at the kitchen table saying, go with the calm certainty of a child who believed in her father more completely than her father believed in himself.
Okay, he said. Victoria nodded. Something in her face that was satisfaction but also something warmer than satisfaction, something personal. Patricia will handle the consulting agreement today, she said. Can you start Wednesday?
Wednesday works, he said. She stood. He stood. She extended her hand across the space between them. Formal clean the handshake of two people beginning something professional and real.
He shook it. Her hand was steady. So was his. One thing he said before he let go. Yes, Gerald, he said, the lobby guard.
He's been here 9 years. He flagged the error codes immediately and told me everything I needed to know within 2 minutes of my arrival. He should be part of the safety assessment process going forward. Victoria looked at him for a moment. Then she sat back down and wrote something on the notepad on the desk beside her.
He couldn't read what it said, but she underlined it. Gerald will be part of the process, she said. He nodded. He left in the elevator going down. He stood with his hands loose at his sides and felt the building move around him.