Cash Is King

CHAPTER 3Forecast to Fulfill

Yusef's assistant sits outside a mostly empty office day after day. No calls ever come through for him because everyone calls his cell phone. Yusef is a roamer. As VP of operations at Owens, he takes it on himself to be where the action is. There is a dented‐up desk next to a second‐hand whiteboard in a corner of the main factory floor that serves as his real office. If Bob is the soul of the company, Yusef is the life force. He is employee number 107.

Bob and Yusef are dear friends in addition to work colleagues, and there is no one Bob trusts more. The board has been pressing Bob to commit to naming Yusef his successor, yet Bob is reluctant to do that. It's not that Bob doesn't think Yusef could do a great job as president; it's that he worries it would kill the man. As it is, Yusef is in the plants 12+ hours a day and comes in on the weekends as well. Bob can't recall when Yusef last took a vacation of more than three days. He is the epitome of a workaholic.

Always dressed in khakis and a short‐sleeve shirt with the Owens logo, Yusef quite literally gets his hands dirty in the tasks of operating the main factory. So, when Bob passed Yusef's usually empty office to see him in suit and tie sitting at his desk, it stopped him in his tracks.

“Funeral?” Bob blurted out.

“What?” a confused Yusef replied.

Bob continued. “Oh! Are we finally getting rid of you? You must have a job interview? Hey, man, I'll write a great reference for you. You know, I'll ...