Chapter 25 - I stop calling it my company
Marwick integration meeting.
Two hundred employees.
New hotel managers.
Executives.
I stood on stage.
Prepared remarks included:
“Welcome to my company.”
I crossed out:
my.
Replaced:
our.
Small.
Maybe performative.
Still.
Vivian had been wrong about the method.
She had not been entirely wrong about me.
I had spent years saying:
My board.
My acquisition.
My people.
My company.
Founder language.
Owner language.
Even when sixty-nine percent belonged to other investors.
That culture made Vivian believe the only way to gain legitimate influence was to weaken mine.
I did not accept responsibility for her choices.
I accepted responsibility for the environment I helped create.
Then governance reforms became permanent.
Independent lead director.
Formal CEO evaluation.
Succession committee.
No executive spouse automatically included in company strategy.
No private family event treated as quasi-company function because half the guest list happened to be stakeholders.
No investor lobbying through social relationships without disclosure when governance action pending.
Boring.
Excellent.
Then my relationship with Isla.
She asked:
“Did Vivian get your company?”
“No.”
“Did she take anything?”
“My marriage ended.”
“That’s sad.”
“Yes.”
“She lost job?”
“Yes.”
“Because of me?”
“No.”
She looked skeptical.
“Because of choices adults made around you.”
“Madeline too?”
“Madeline made her own choice.”
Then:
“Did I do anything?”
“You had a birthday.”
She smiled.
May you like
Good.
Children should not inherit causal responsibility merely because adults used them.
