A Midsummer Career’s Dream

Author’s note - the following has nothing to do with K-Pop but is related to the prompt.

Dear Vance,

After a lot of thought, I have decided my career will be better served if I resign my post and strike out on my own.  Unless otherwise requested, my last day will be June 30th, 2023.

This might seem sudden to you but not for me; I’ve been reflecting on this since last year after several events occurred that left me greatly disappointed. 

Simply put; the root cause is Gerard and the continued support he receives from the Board. 

Over the past year, several decisions were made that have caused serious hardships that would have been completely avoidable by leadership with the slightest knowledge of what they were doing. 

Some highlights are as follows:

A) Last summer, when we were looking at opening a Japanese office, I was initially disappointed when I wasn’t selected to head the team but still, I was excited to be involved at all since I lived in Tokyo for ten years before working here. 

From the kickoff meeting my disappointment grew as I learned the person selected to lead the initiative was Gerard.  To be frank, Gerard is a career company bootlick with zero experience doing business outside the state let alone in Asia and let alone a notoriously difficult country like Japan.  

My initial enthusiasm was shattered upon hearing Gerard’s speech where he went on about doing business the “American way” and the Japanese will simply need to get accustomed to it.

This specific mentality caused Burger King, Wendys, eBay, Walmart and a host of other foreign incumbents to, some only initially but most terminally, fail in Japan.  

Those that still survive have learned that unless you do business the Japanese way, no matter how much capital is at your disposal, you will fail. 

This idea has been the consistent thread in all my recommendations to Gerard.  Not only have my proposals gone unheeded, ignoring them have created irreparable problems. 

The largest issue is the joint venture we formed with a local firm with ties to the Yakuza - and not deeply hidden ties either.  A simple Google search in Japanese results in reams of news articles on the topic mere months prior to Gerard signing the deal.

What brought the regulators down on us was Gerard’s insistence on a huge press conference in Tokyo with journalists and photographers present to watch Gerard glad-hand, in essence, with the mob.

National press labelled the move as lacking common sense and troublesome; Japanese for wholly idiotic and arrogantly irresponsible.  

Gerard, predictably, dominated the news cycle for the rest of the week, becoming such an issue that the Tokyo prosecutors were forced into action on what they rightly perceived as a slam dunk case.

Stuart, our managing director in Japan, has since been arrested and Tokyo’s version of the DA’s office will bring charges next week.  The prosecutors there have a ninety-nine percent success rate, which was the reason Carlos Ghosn decided to hide in an audio equipment box with a fake bottom while spirited away in a private jet from Osaka rather than take his chances with Nissan and the Tokyo District Court.  

While the embassy is aware of Stuart’s pending charges, they said there is little they can do given that Gerard’s (and our) corporate ignorance brought round the situation in the first place.  

I have no hope for Stuart’s future.

B) Gerard is the only one who represents the team’s work to the Board despite not spending the time necessary to understand even the broad strokes of what each division does.  

I can’t speak for all, but from my direct experience, Gerard has consistently demonstrated he is not anywhere near competent enough to field the Board’s questions about how well or bad things are going.  

Once I understood Gerard’s inept dynamic, I requested to present my work to the Board directly.  This was met with fear and anger from Gerard who accused me of wanting to circumvent his authority.  I admit, he was not wrong.

Gerard then went on to say that my explanations were too complicated for an executive like him with little time.  

Without one iota of exaggeration, I replied that if I made things any simpler, I would need crayons and hand puppets.  

Gerard then looked wounded and I seriously thought he might cry.  After he composed himself, he then decreed we would “put a pin” in the topic until our next weekly, which he failed to show up for without notice yet again.

C) Of the eight team members selected for the Japan initiative, with my departure only two remain, one being Gerard himself.   

Of us six who have decided to leave, four have reported Gerard, and the company, to the labour bureau citing power harassment and unfair employment practices.  Three of the four have hired legal representation (yes - three.  More on the third below.).

Some claim unpaid overtime and others claim verbal abuse stemming from Gerard’s outbursts of anger that, in hindsight, were thinly veiled demonstrations of what happens when he is confronted with anything less than full-throated support for his ideas, no matter how divorced from reality they are. 

Moreover, rather than speak to team members individually about their concerns, he belittles them openly in all-hands meetings.  

It is either arrogance or stupidity that prevents Gerard from realising that each time he loses his temper, he is providing more evidential ammunition to whoever wishes to sue him next.

Therefore I will resign and make clear my intention to move ahead with the formation of my own company to do exactly what this team was tasked with in the first place.  

Thanks to Gerard’s failed attempts to make mediaeval examples of those who left previously, I have well anticipated my counter strategy for the harassment and legal gaslighting to commence when I send this email.

Thus, all further communication with me on this matter will be fielded by the law offices of Goldstein, Ramshackle & Stone. They are CC’d and will initiate communications once this email hits their inboxes.

The Jesuit philosopher Baltasar Gracian said “A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.”  Make no mistake, we will soon be enemies.

I anticipate you’ll put on airs to ignore my efforts, but no matter; you’ll feel my presence in the market place soon after I incorporate.  Potential clients of this company who were allergic to Gerard’s arrogant and condescending manner of approach have shown interest in my proposals.

I explain this not to try and convince you I am right; history will be the judge of that.  I simply wish to let you know that while I’m not angry, I am not forgiving either.  Your presence in this industry offends long time practitioners like myself as well as the clients who could benefit from our services. 

Until very recently I had mistakenly viewed this belief through the lens of good versus evil.  I have since come to the conclusion it is actually faith versus fear.  You lot are so fearful, all of your decisions derive from it.

Gerard’s overcompensation for his lack of tact and knowledge sources totally from his gargantuan insecurity.  The inability of the Board, the only group in the company who could oust Gerard, to do just that only demonstrates an equal amount of fear-based decision making.

Up until this point in my career, fear ruled my decisions too. This is no longer the case.  I truly believe this company can not survive as long as it is ruled by fear and political cronyism rather than the genuine faith in what value we offer the marketplace. 

In closing, I wish to thank the company, not for any experience gained but for the opposite; doing for me what other companies have failed to do - thoroughly insulting me to the point where my motivation is ignited to fuel past my fear into the realm of faith, of which gives me the required confidence, not arrogance, to go out on my own. 

Thank you and good luck - I believe you’ll sorely need it.

Regards, 

Frederick Rockmantle

CC:

The Law Offices of Goldstein, Ramshackle & Stone

c/o David Ramshackle, Partner