I sent the plan in twelve days. We built the capacity in seventy-two.
Victor signed the expanded contract. He attended the signing lunch. This is correct and appropriate — he is the owner, the contract is with the company, the signing is his.
What I want to be clear about is that Diane Keller’s decision to expand the contract with Morgan Freight Coordination was based on her assessment of our ability to execute the expansion, and her assessment of that ability was based on her seven-year working relationship with me. She knew what I knew because she had needed what I knew, repeatedly, over seven years, and I had provided it.
I am not claiming sole credit for the Alder account. Victor sold it. Our carriers serviced it. Jana documented it. Marcus maintained the systems that tracked it. This was a team effort in the way all sustained business operations are team efforts.
What I am saying is that the “we” of the Alder account had a specific architecture, and the load-bearing part of that architecture was the part that was about to be handed to someone who had not been in the building when it was constructed.
The Transition That Was Not Really a Transition
I want to talk about the weeks between Luke’s promotion announcement and the conference room meeting, because they are the period I return to most often when I am trying to understand how I ended up where I did.
Luke’s expanded role was announced about eight weeks before I was let go. Victor called a staff meeting — all eight of us — and said that Luke would be taking on broader leadership responsibilities in accounts and operations, with a focus on growing the business. He used the phrase “strategic direction” twice. He said this was part of a long-term succession vision for Morgan Freight Coordination.