From surviving to thriving ...

Gavin Pearson and Stuart Smith were about as different as two people could ever be. As an infant, Gavin was abandoned by his drug-addicted birth mother. He grew up in one foster home after another until he was ten, when he was adopted by a loving couple. What began as a wonderful family suddenly changed two years later, when his adopted father was killed while driving his semi-truck across the country. Young Gavin with his widow mother struggled. They barely made ends meet by her waiting tables in the neighborhood diner and cleaning houses at night and on weekends.

Stuart Smith grew up with two older sisters in the privileged home of a Wall Street arbitrageur. He attended private schools. At the insistence of his overbearing father, he played lacrosse and hockey in high school.
Stuart's father was too busy to attend any games, but he developed relationships with the coaches and got frequent reports on his son's performance. He was also a big donor to Stuart's all-boys prep school, which was his own alma mater. The headmaster gave him frequent reports on Stuart's academic performance.

Stuart is Chairman of the Board of NOP Inc., a high-tech manufacturing organization located in an industrial suburb of the Seattle metro area. He always had big dreams.

NOP had experienced a fall from grace after being known in Wall Street circles as the fastest-rising star. Under the former CEO, now retired, NOP stock values floundered, stagnated, and then vacillated at sub-standard levels. Stuart, the high-powered, number crunching, Wall Street-hugging septuagenarian, was head-hunting for a new CEO, preferably a young and dashing version of himself, who would turn NOP back into Wall Street's darling.

The Wall Street advisory firm sent Stuart a one-page profile of Gavin Pearson in Seattle, saying, "He can transform your culture and turn NOP around. Wall Street loves him." He was well-known for fostering the trust-and-openness high-performance team culture at Prominent Staffing Company. "Bring him on as CEO," they said. "Watch NOP fly high. Investors will rush to NOP." The advisory firm had Wall Street's diktat.

Stuart noted with disappointment that Gavin Pearson was not a younger version of him. In fact, he was quite the opposite. Gavin's career was checkered, if not downright unfocussed. He had been immensely successful in the latter part of his career, except that his credential was tied to a halo that screamed, "Brand ambassador for organizational development and cultural transformation"-exactly what Stuart detested as a lot of warm and fuzzy nonsense.

Yet, Stuart had to abide by the Wall Street diktat. For the love of big money. And for the love of being perceived as the man on top, who would pull the strings and make NOP a Wall Street darling again.