VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [2]
One final question: why write about this subject by way of a business novel? For one reason, we have a strong precedent. The Goal, which is now considered a classic in business literature and has sold millions of copies globally, was a novel created by our founder, Dr. Goldratt, working in association with creative writer Jeff Cox. Mr. Cox now returns to the subject matter and style of that now-famous book by working with AGI to write VELOCITY.
However, it should also be noted that fiction provides some significant advantages over a conventional business text. Strategy, technology, tangible assets, material resources – all of these and more are essential for a functioning business. But it can be said, with no sentimentality, that human beings are really at the core of every organization. A novel allows readers to experience business concepts as actual people might. We can reveal with fairly good accuracy where conflicts can develop, and the resolution of those conflicts. The story becomes a way to better engage the reader, and to explore the ideas as they actually might play out in the readers’ own environments. And, aside from all that, a novel can make the reading of the book a heck of a lot more interesting to anyone in your organization.
So we hope you enjoy VELOCITY – and that you gain practical insights to make you and your organization more successful.
1
The news spread by way of hushed murmurs in hallways, muffled conversations behind closed doors, mutterings over the tops of cubicle walls, quiet phone calls with hands covering the mouthpieces. However, one poor chump was stupid enough to broadcast it in an email – and he eventually got the blame and was canned, although he in fact had not been the one initially to leak the word. ‘In any case, within hours – and a good two days before the official announcement – practically everyone at the headquarters of Hi-T Composites knew what was only supposed to be known by certain boards of directors, key executives, and a few trusted subordinates.
Amy Cieolara, who was not one of those privileged few, had just got back to her office after her regular Wednesday meeting with her marketing and salespeople. She was a slim woman, age forty-one at the time, with sandy brown hair cut midlength that she wore either pulled back or in long, flowing curls framing her rather angular chin-line. This was a curls day, and she was having trouble keeping them out of her face as she walked briskly through the offices while thumbing a text message at the same time. Almost in lockstep behind her as she went into her office came Linda, her assistant, who closed Amy’s door and held it shut, leaning against it lest some intruder should come barging in and hear her speak of the appalling secret.
“Have you heard?” Linda asked.
“What? About Elaine and Bill? Well, everyone said it was never going to last, and guess what, it didn’t.”
“No!” said Linda in an exclamatory whisper. “We’re getting sold to some huge company!”
Amy’s green eyes sharpened their focus on the younger woman’s worried face.
“Well? Is it true?”
“Linda, if I knew, which I don’t, I wouldn’t be allowed to say anything to anybody. By the way, who told you?”
“Nobody. There’s an email floating around. I’ll forward it to you.”
“No!” said Amy. “I don’t want it on my computer. Print a copy for me.”
Linda slipped out the door, back to her desk. When she returned a few minutes later, sheet of paper in hand, Amy took the email printout and read it quickly, then blew a soft