"You were installed in this position in part because we believed you to be operational and autonomous. You shouldn't need guidance from the shareholders on anything whatsoever." Guul looks around your office then. "I visited this room occasionally when Anaru Katariki sat behind that desk. Did you ever come up here in those days?"
"No," you say. "I only met the man today."
"And now you never will again." He pauses, then says, "You've redecorated. The office had much more personality before."
"I've been too preoccupied running this company to go shopping for office artwork."
"Katariki was a thief," says Guul sharply, regarding you again with his mismatched eyes. "He betrayed MetaHuman, and stole from its shareholders. We wanted to punish him. But we did not kill him. We'd never have been so blunt, or done so on company property, in full view of all. If we'd managed to get our hands on him, his ultimate fate would have been far more…imaginative."
"You say Katariki was a thief, but Winston Q has also accused me of that crime. That's how he pressured me into this job."
Guul waves a hand dismissively. "Leverage. Now, I want to discuss three points. The first: this company's image. I don't care if you run this company with tenderness or an iron fist, or whether your employees here are cowed or cheery. I care about money and power. And I care about this company's public image, because it impacts people's willingness to deal with this company. The general public is, en masse, the greatest force in this world. Wiser not to anger them."
"And how do you rate my work in that regard since I took over here?" you ask, already suspecting the answer.
Guul frowns. "Adequate. Barely. You teeter on the edge of a knife blade. Slip to one side, and your customers and public will turn away from you for good. Slip to the other, and they will allow you to serve their needs for as long as it remains convenient. Balance on this knife edge for too long, of course, and you risk getting badly cut…."
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