...as each gave her their weekly update, in preparation for the Management Committee meeting.
Present were Patricia Logan, Director, Print and Traditional media, Sandrine Bertrand, Director, Digital Media, Heather Knight, Director, CRM, Christina Bianchi, Director, Social Media, and Sophie Ling, Director, In-house Creative. The women ranged in age from late twenties to early thirties. Kelly, at 41, was the eminence grise in the room.
Heather was speaking:
“Claire, on Judy’s team says there’s another budget cut coming.”
Crap, Kelly swore to herself, but her expression was unchanged. She felt the mood around the table deflating. She didn’t like finding out about this from her employee and Judy would have come and told her about something like this, so Robert must have just decided this morning. She’d get to Judy before the MC to find out the magnitude and timing of the cut.
She looked around the table. “Let’s not panic, guys, until I find out for sure. It’s possible we’re holding off the current spend so we have more to drive a big splash when Athena launches.”
“If Athena launches,” grumbled Sandrine.
Kelly gave her a look. “When Athena launches.”
It wasn’t helpful to let the team sink into a gloomy malaise. “We have to trust our colleagues in development.”
Heather, a chipper, glass half full type, piped up, “Well, we have the operating system upgrade coming,” but it failed to inspire the other women at the table and drew low groans from a few. An operating system version upgrade was about as exciting as a glass of warm milk.
Kelly nodded at Heather. “You’re right, Heather, we need to work that into our current campaigns. Patricia, can you set up a briefing with the agency?”
“Sure, Kelly.”
Kelly noted Patricia’s subdued tone. It was understandable given the difficult conversation they’d had the day before. Kelly remained troubled about Patricia’s likely ability to turn it around; she was second-guessing her decision to give her another chance – but she had, and that was that, and now it was up to Patricia to step up.
Sandrine, the dark, melancholy obverse to Heather said, “How about this for a tag line for the OS upgrade: ‘we’re perfuming the pig’?” which was met with appreciative laughter. Kelly understood that morale was low, that this release of a new version of the current operating system was a yawner, and the sarcasm and gallows humour was a coping mechanism for the anxiety the whole team felt about Athena. But, the new OS release was all they had for now and they had to make the best of it. With a professional tone, she said, “we obviously don’t need new creative, we’ll tag the current executions, and use PR and social media to try to get some buzz.”
Notes were taken with a general murmur of assent.
Heather, a little crestfallen and wanting to regain some lost ground with the authority of inside knowledge said, “Tyler told me that the new version was going to ignite the industry.”
Her peers at the table exchanged covert glances, with a shared understanding that Tyler – brilliant and subversive – had been messing with her, that Heather’s sweetness and naiveté would be irresistible to him.
Completely straight and with an affectionate and affirmative smile, Christina, said, “Wow, that’s a relief, Heather,” and the others chimed in, with Heather happily acknowledging their apparent consensus.
Sophie added, “but what’s up with Tyler and Michelle? I mean, she’s va va va voom, and he’s a total nerd.”
“Yeah, and who wants to hook up with a nerd? What were Bill Gates’ and Steve Jobs’ wives thinking?” Sandrine observed dryly.
The table erupted in laughter; the mood was lightening up. Kelly didn’t know either Tyler or Michelle very well, and actually had no idea they were together, and her initial reaction was to be a little surprised.
Christina said, “Ty is a genius, I mean, he is just so incredibly smart. And he’s funny. And he doesn’t give a shit what anyone – any woman – thinks of him. He’s actually kind of hot.”
“He’s a fixer upper,” offered Sandrine, to noises of agreement.
“Okay, but if we’re talking hot, how about the new CTO?”
There was a general affirmative din:
“Oh, my god, tell me about it.”
“Mmmmmm”
“Num num”
Christina turned to Kelly with a lascivious expression. “So, boss, what’s he like?”
Not taking the bait, Kelly said, “Well, he comes highly recommended; he’s started several technology companies; he’s very smart and determined – exactly what we need to get Athena back on schedule and launched on time.”
Christina rolled her eyes. “I know all that, I read his Linkedin profile, I don’t mean what’s he like, I mean what’s he like?
The others made encouraging noises.
Kelly laughed and shook her head. “Guys, I work with the man, he’s my colleague. We’re going to be talking about boring things like project milestones and product features. I have no idea what he’s like.”
“Oh, man, you’re no fun,” Sandrine pouted.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Kelly said.
“Well, he doesn’t wear a ring,” said Sophie, helpfully.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean some woman doesn’t have a ring in his nose,” Sandrine said, grumpily.
“I don’t know,” Christina said, cannily, “He doesn’t strike me as the kind of man a woman can lead around by the nose.”
“He could lead me around by the nose,” Heather added, uncharacteristically, which caused an eruption of laughter.
Kelly knew that a little socializing, a little gossip and kidding around was a necessary outlet to work – especially when the whole company was under the strain of uncertainty – but, it was her place to manage the fun and not let it hijack the meeting; she tapped her watch and said, “Guys, can we call some boys and giggle later? I have an MC I need your help to prepare for.”
The table straightened up and got back to business, but Kelly was pleased to observe that the mood was considerably lighter than it had been at the start of the meeting. She smiled inwardly, thinking that Steve McGregor had been a good tonic to raise her team’s spirits when the mood was down. But, probably not something she could thank him for.
Copyright © 2020 Athena's Mischief - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy