Remember When

takeover attempts launched by several major corporations, and the widely publicized battle had been bloody and fierce. Today, Unified Industries had emerged victorious, and the media was going crazy.

'Congratulations, Cole,' Corbin Driscoll, the company's controller, said as he pressed a glass of champagne into Cole's hand.

'Speech!' Dick Rowse called out. 'We want a speech,' he persisted determinedly in the jocular tone of a man who feels compelled to make everyone feel relaxed and everything look rosy, and who has also had too much to drink. In this case his efforts struck a particularly false note, because jovial camaraderie between the executive staff and the corporation's hard-driving CEO simply did not exist.

Cole glanced impatiently at him, then relented and gave his 'speech.'

'Ladies and gentlemen,' he said with a brief, perfunctory smile, 'we've just spent one hundred and fifty million dollars to acquire a company that won't be worth half that if we can't market that computer chip. I suggest we all get busy thinking up ways to cut our losses if that happens.'

'I was hoping for a quote I could use for the media,' Rowse said. 'My phone's been ringing off the hook since the announcement was made two hours ago.'

'I'll leave that to you. Thinking up quotable quotes for the media is your job, Dick, not mine,' he replied; then he turned and headed toward his office, leaving Dick Rowse feeling reprimanded and everyone else feeling a little deflated.

Within minutes the group had disbanded, leaving only Rowse, his new assistant director, Gloria Quigley, and Corbin Driscoll in the conference room.

Gloria Quigley was the first to speak. Tall, blond, and glamorous, the thirty-year-old was the youngest, and newest, member of the senior staff. 'What a letdown,' she said with an exasperated sigh. 'Wall Street is in an uproar because Unified Industries wrested Cushman away from Matt Farrell's Intercorp and two other major players. We're all euphoric, the clerical staff is proud, and the janitorial people are probably dancing a jig,' she finished, 'but the man who masterminded the whole buyout doesn't seem to care.'

'Oh, he cares,' Dick Rowse told her. 'When you've been here for six months, you'll realize that you've just seen Cole Harrison exhibiting extreme pleasure. In fact, he was happier just now than I've ever seen him.'

Gloria looked at the two executives in disbelief. 'What's he like when he's unhappy?'

Corbin Driscoll shook his head. 'You don't want to see that.'

'He can't be that bad,' Gloria argued.

'Oh, yeah?' Corbin joked. He pointed to his thick, immaculately groomed gray hair. 'I didn't have a strand of gray hair two years ago, when I went to work for Cole.' The other two laughed, and he added, 'That nice, fat salary and benefit package you got when you came to work here comes with a few strings attached.'

'Like what?' Gloria asked.

'Like phone calls at midnight because Cole has some new idea and wants you to act on it,' Dick Rowse said.

'And you'd better learn how to pack a suitcase and catch a plane with an hour's notice on a weekend,' Corbin added, 'because our CEO doesn't live by clocks or calendars.'

'Weekends?' Gloria exclaimed in mock horror. 'I'll have to start turning off my answering machine at home on Friday nights!'

'I'm glad you mentioned that,' Rowse said with a wry chuckle as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small, black object. 'This is a present for you—something to replace your answering machine and a token proof that you have a position of some importance here.'

Gloria automatically opened her hand, and Rowse slapped a pager into her palm. 'Welcome to Unified Industries,' he said dryly. 'If you're wise, you'll sleep with that pager.'

Everyone laughed, but Gloria had known when she applied for this job that a great many demands were going to be made of her. The challenge had been much of its appeal.

Before giving up her own Dallas PR firm to come to work for Unified Industries, she'd read every article she could find about the aggressive, enigmatic entrepreneur who had made history by putting together a very large, very profitable conglomerate before he was thirty years old.

From personal experience, she'd already learned that he was an exacting and demanding employer, with an aloof, impatient attitude that discouraged familiarity, even among his senior executives, who all treated him with caution and deference.

He seemed to be as unconcerned about making enemies as he was about his public image, and yet, he was ferociously protective of the corporation's reputation.

Customer service was his personal 'hot spot.' As a result of his rigid high standards, Unified Industries had received justifiable acclaim for the unparalleled customer service offered by every one of the companies beneath its corporate umbrella. Whether the newly acquired subsidiary was a floundering drug manufacturer, a small fast- food chain, or a large textile company, the first order of business for Harrison's takeover team was to bring the customer-service area up to Unified Industries' superior standards.

'He's a complete mystery to everyone in the business world, including the people around here,' Gloria said, thinking aloud. 'No one really knows anything about him. I've been interested in him ever since he made headlines during the Erie Plastics takeover two years ago. A friend told me that MBA candidates are studying his takeover techniques.'

'Well, Erie Plastics wasn't that complicated. I can give you a concise view of what really happened there, and you don't need to be a candidate for a master's degree to understand it,' Corbin offered wryly.

She looked at him intently. 'Please do.'

'Basically, the reason Cole succeeded was he ran the competition out of time and money. When other corporations decide to acquire a company, they weigh the acquisition's value to them against its cost in money and time. If the cost gets too high, they cut their losses and back off. That's the established practice among successful corporations all over the world. That's the way Cole's adversaries play the game. While the battle is raging, they constantly reassess what they have to lose against what they have to gain; then they try to predict their adversary's next move based on their estimation of what he has to lose and gain.

'Cole is different. When he wants something, he won't stop until he gets it, no matter how high the cost goes. His adversaries have finally realized that, which gives Cole an even bigger edge. These days, when he decides to acquire something, other potential buyers generally pull out and let him have it, rather than go to the trouble and expense of fighting him. Basically, that's his weapon and why he wins.'

'What about Erie Plastics? That's what made him a legend.'

Corbin nodded. 'In the case of Erie Plastics, there were originally five suitors who courted them, and we were the first. Erie's board of directors had agreed in principle to our generous offer, but when the other companies suddenly jumped in, Erie's board decided to take advantage of the competition among us by upping the ante. The price and the concessions Erie wanted kept escalating until the three smaller companies finally dropped out of the bidding. That left only Intercorp and us in the game, but just as the other companies dropped out of the bidding, another plastics company that Intercorp liked even better approached them with an offer to sell. Intercorp pulled out and that left us as Erie's only remaining suitor. The day after Intercorp pulled out, Cole retaliated against Erie's board by offering them less than he'd originally offered in the very beginning. Erie screamed 'foul' all over Wall Street. They got some sympathy, but no other suitors came forward with an offer because buyouts and takeovers cost a fortune, win or lose, and Cole was still standing in the ring— like a heavyweight champion with gloves on and fists raised—ready to take on the next contender if they made a move on Erie. The rest is history—Unified got a plastics company for less than it was worth, and Cole got some bad publicity and a whole new set of enemies.'

'I can't do anything about his enemies,' Gloria said, 'but I intend to do something about our public relations.'

'Cole doesn't care about making enemies. He cares about Unified and about winning. That's the point I was trying to make earlier: Cole Harrison would have paid whatever it took to get Erie, no matter how much it was. It's as if winning is as important to him as the thing he's after, maybe even more important.'

'With that kind of tunnel vision, I'd have expected him to be a failure in business instead of such a dramatic success.'