PARADIGM SHIFT
A Story by Garry Lee Wright

River Cities' Reader
Wednesday, March 27 2002
<http://www.rcreader.com/display_article.php3?index=1&artid=812>



"Got a second, Brad?" 

"Sure, Biff." 

"Step into my cubicle. And say hello to our new senior vice president, Buzz
Brindle." 

"Hello, Buzz." 

"What's up, Brad? I like your glasses." 

"Thanks." 

"Brad, Buzz and I were just conference-calling Bud about trial-ballooning a
memo to Bob to white-space Bill's calendar so he could front-burner a plan
to green-light a meeting with Beth." 

"I see." 

"But then Bud started thinking out of the box about sunsetting the
memo-to-Bob idea and suggested that we just ratchet up the whole concept
into some proactive face time with Brian." 

"Oh?" 

"Well, not in so many words. But we wanted to give you a heads-up anyway Ð
just in case you had some down time and wanted to re-tool while we were all
ramping up." 

"I see. I mean, thanks." 

"No problem. That's why synergy is the benchmark around here." 

"Brad, let's cut to the chase. Biff and I know that Ð at the end of the day
Ð we're all on the same page." 

"That one's a no-brainer, Brad." 

"And Bud and Bob feel the same way Ð although I can't speak for Bill or
Beth Ð but Brian knows you're a team player, and you're always ready to
take it to the next level." 

"And in the wake of that kind of backstory, Brad, you're on everybody's
radar screen." 

"Thanks." 

"No problem." 

"And that's why I don't want to blue-sky this or sugar-coat it, Brad. I'm
just going to blow it out of the cannon and give you the bottom line.
Ready?" 

"I think so." 

"Brad, we're talking about a paradigm shift." 

"A paradigm shift?" 

"Exactly. But let's circle back and speak to that issue in a minute." 

"Okay." 

"Brad, what Biff's getting at is a sea change." 

"A sea change?" 

"Yes. We're girding ourselves to re-define our corporate mission Ð and that
means responding to the potential for negative growth in our economic
model." 

"It does?" 

"Absolutely. The foreseeable future is a real juggernaut, Brad. And we have
no choice but to mix in the notion of infrastructure." 

"We don't?" 

"No. And that means multi-tasking, downsizing, outsourcing, and in-housing.
See what we're getting at?" 

"I think so. I'm fired?" 

"Right. But that sounds so five-minutes-ago. Let's call it 're-deployed.'" 

"And that's a paradigm shift?" 

"It's a killer ap, Brad. All the big players are doing it." 

"Do I get any severance?" 

"No. But feel free to take home your paper clips." 


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