Chapter 4. The Phone Call
As different as they were, however, today they were both sweating and nervous. Hope knew that neither of them had ever been through something like this before. Their involvement would be critical in handling this crisis, and Hope was curious to see how they would respond. She observed people and learned a lot about them just by watching. As she expected, Wayne spoke first, "I just got off the phone with Dan, and he'll be calling in about two minutes. I see everyone is here but Robert." Just like Wayne, Hope thought. Always trying to get control of the room and situation by identifying who's there and who's not. A regular master of the obvious. Everyone knew Robert was overseas closing a big sale with a government client.
"Shall we all sit down?" Jim asked as he motioned for everyone to take a seat.
The phone rang, Jim pressed the conference button, and Dan greeted everyone with a calm welcome. He was a tall, thin, mild-mannered CEO whose focused, calm demeanor was shaped by his years coaching college basketball. He eventually left his job as a basketball coach to start EZ Tech with a college buddy, but as Dan told Hope many times before: "I didn't leave coaching; I just chose a different arena to apply my principles." And, ironically, his leadership, coaching skills, and ability to handle pressure were being put to the test like never before.
Dan continued, ...
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