Chapter 16 -- Change is Good, Right?
Friday December 30
The plan for the day was to go to my company's office and get updated on how everything was going. Since the meeting was scheduled for first thing, I talked my grandma into going to Granny's West for breakfast. I'd spent the night in her guest room because my uncle had used my apartment.
Before I left, I called Chuck.
"Where are you? I'm supposed to pick you up this morning."
"I'm at my grandmother's farm. She'll be giving me a ride this morning to our office, and I'll be there most of the day. I need you to go to O'Hare and pick up Fritz, Halle, and Rita," I explained.
Halle had told me what flight they would be on. Chuck agreed but still gave me grief for slipping my leash. When they dropped me off at night, I was supposed to stay home. For the most part, I agreed with what they told me, but sometimes I just needed them not be breathing down my neck.
When we arrived at Granny's West, I found there was a crowd of unexpected guests. Bev and Jack Mass had come down from Chicago, and Frank Ingram and Kent Crain were in from LA. At another table was Brook with her mom and grandmother.
"Mind if we join you?" I asked Brook's mother, Ava.
At first, couldn't remember Brook's grandmother's name, which I was reminded was Grace Davenport. After we'd made introductions, I got up and walked around to say good morning to everyone. When I came back, I saw that they'd brought everyone a cinnamon roll.
"What brings you ladies out this fine morning?" I asked between mouthfuls of yummy goodness.
"We are special guests at your meeting today," Brook informed me.
Brook had taken an interest in my businesses. She'd come up with the idea of expanding our talent management, PR services, and investment management businesses into a combined wealth management offering. She'd introduced that to her grandmother, who had then become our first client. I hoped she would let us know what she thought today and how we could improve our offerings.
"I'm eager to hear how everything is going for you," I said to Grace.
"It's gone well. I'll save the details for the meeting," she said.
Ava told Grace that my grandmother was acting as the mayor of our town, and the three of them talked about what Grandma was doing. That gave Brook and me a chance to speak.
"Halle said she would be in today for your party."
"She and her mom are staying with us. She said you promised her ... stuff," she said cryptically so the big ears sitting next to us wouldn't hear.
"What 'stuff'?" Ava asked.
Brook had opened her big mouth, so I wasn't about to bail her out. She should have known that the three of them had 'mom ears' and would pick up on what she was saying to me. My girlfriend looked at me for help, and I put on my best little angel face.
"I think David called it bow-chicka-bow-wow," my grandmother said to toss me back into the middle of it.
"Hey!" I complained. "What's the Dawson Rule?"
"There is no 'Dawson Rule,'" Grandma Dawson shot back.
"Well ... there should be," I said as I glared at her like a put-out teen.
"Is this young man corrupting my granddaughter?" Grace asked with a mock scowl.
"Oh, Honey, don't get me started. My youngest was a little Casanova when he was David's age. From what I gather, my grandsons take after him."
Where was my mom when I needed her? Then again, I probably didn't want her involved in a conversation like this. I knew my dad and uncle would be no help.
"This one," Grace said, pointing at Ava, "caused most of these gray hairs."
"Mother," Ava warned.
"Oh, really? Do tell," Brook said, digging for dirt.
Brook and I got lucky because it turned into telling stories about my dad and uncle and Grace's kids. I smiled as both my girlfriend and I made mental notes of some of the trouble they got into. By the time we finished eating, I had figured I had a couple new 'get out of jail free' cards in my back pocket.
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I groaned when Caryn handed me the agenda, and I saw that they had allotted three hours for the business overview. I was afraid this was three hours I would never get back. I knew in my gut that I should really be involved in all this, but I just couldn't seem to get excited about it. This was something that should be happening later in my life. Right now, I had too much going on, and a big chunk of the stuff in which I was involved had nothing to do with just being a kid in high school. This was a reminder that people relied on what I did and the money I earned, and that's an uncomfortable burden for a high schooler. If a lot of the people in the room hadn't been my family, I might have bailed.
I asked all of you here today not just to conduct a year-end review of the businesses but also because I've been approached with an unexpected offer. Just so you all know, Rob and I haven't discussed this with David. We didn't because he asked us not to bother him with the business," Caryn said, which caused some good-natured chuckles from everyone.
It sounded like I might have said that one too many times. Caryn could have her fun. Payback might be headed her way.
"That, and," she continued, "we just received this offer two days ago. The real reason was that we've been requested to allow the person making the offer make their pitch to David and the board directly. Rob suggested that we include everyone involved in the day-to-day management so they could hear this too."
That would explain why Kent had been asked to fly in. He effectively ran my talent management company with Frank's oversight. Frank was a managing partner of our PR firm, while Jack and Bev Mass ran the investment arm of our business.
Megan handed everyone an organizational chart of all the businesses for reference. Then Grace Davenport stepped up to the front of the room, and Caryn introduced her. She took a moment to go over her credentials as the driving force behind many successful retail and home-goods brands. Grace had made their parent company one of the fastest-growing companies in the '90s. It had made Brook's family very wealthy.
If Grace had a proposal for me, I had to listen. This woman was a legend in the business world, even if she had recently relinquished control of her company to her management team.
What impressed me the most about her was that we'd just had breakfast and had a conversation that was far from what you would expect from the chairman of a huge corporation. She seemed comfortable being a normal person when she was with her daughter and granddaughter. When she took the front of a room, the business persona came forward.
"I know you have a full agenda planned for today, so I'll just get to the point. I think you've found a unique niche in the wealth management market. What I hate about most wealth management companies is that they cater to institutional clients like state employee retirement funds or large corporations. If you look at their list of clients, you'll see that big institutional clients account for the majority of their revenues.
"What you offer is much more personalized. It covers all aspects of financial management that wealthy people genuinely need, and not just people in the entertainment industry. Potentially, and in some cases actually, it also covers virtually all non-financial aspects of personal management as well, with personal and public relations services being the prime examples. I hadn't thought about the gaps in services I had until my granddaughter came to me with what you had to offer. I've been using the services for the past few months and find the business model intriguing.
"My hat is off to you all for taking your business to this point. What I'm going to propose is that we take this to a whole new level with my help. To be frank, I don't think David has the desire to take the reins and drive this business to its full potential right now. Maybe in ten or fifteen years, he will have the background and time to take this on, but not right now," she said and turned to me.
"This isn't meant as a slam on you personally, David," Grace said. "I understand why everyone partnered with you. You were their cash cow. In effect, you offered them an opportunity to work independently, with your father and Caryn acting as traffic cops and keeping everything balanced and in perspective.
"I'm going to be brutally honest with you. You, as the owner, have not been keeping an eye on things. Not that anyone has done anything wrong or taken advantage of you, but I know from experience that someone with your leadership skills would make a difference. You need someone to take that role to move the company to the next level.
"I also understand why you haven't been actively involved. You felt if you threw money at it and put the right people in charge that it would take care of itself. You have too much else occupying your time to run a successful company. To this point, you've been lucky, and from what I can see from the numbers that Caryn shared with me, it has grown faster than expected. That in and of itself will eventually catch other people's attention, and not necessarily in a good way. It won't be long before your business model is hijacked by someone who is better prepared to take advantage of it.
"Eventually, inattention on your part and the lack of a steady hand on the reins will almost certainly result in something bad happening. It will be something that you really don't want or like, and it will occur somewhere down the line, though perhaps not for years. As I said, I'm being blunt. But I've also seen it happen, and the effects, both personal and financial, can range from troubling, to significant, to severe, all the way up to devastating.
"Finally, rapid growth is good, but only if you know how to manage it. Too many times, a small company like yours can't keep up and maintain quality when it starts to take off. That is something I specialize in," she said.
I was a little offended she referred to us as a 'little' company. But when you looked at her parent companies' yearly revenues--in the range of multi-billions of dollars--we were little by comparison.
"What exactly are you proposing?" I asked.
She had Ava hand out folders.
