Chapter 12

Priming the Pump

Alicia had logged more than twenty years at Consolidated, having started there right out of college. She rose to a leadership role, as she saw it, by using a triple-threat combination of determination, sacrifice, and working harder than everyone else. Coworkers viewed her as a formidable, competent leader and knew that if you presented to Alicia anything even in the hemisphere of “touchy-feely,” you were going down. Fast. Tough to please, she expected results first and foremost.

Kate had heard these impressions, too. She had experience working with similar personalities, so as she geared herself up for the conversation she focused on her main talking points, taking notes to keep herself on track. Any casual slips about group harmony could be disastrous.