He who would search for pearls

Pearl asked if I would talk with you one more time before she gives up on the 'Louis Maddox Project' entirely.

Heh...were those her words? That's very cute.

Regarding the Meeting Incident:

Meeting incident? *chuckle* I wasn't aware that I had made such an impression.

Though the timing issue was meant to be a small test to demonstrate you have a genuine thirst to be involved with the Invictus, she said she would have compromised easily on it.

I imagine she would have, unfortunately her secretary was working under a different mindset. Due to some prior scheduling conflicts and the two hour notice I was simply not available at midnight. My suggestion of an hour later at 1am was met with some rather off-putting demands that I was not being asked to attend but that I was being told. After this, I sincerely apologized that I would not be able to make the meeting, and asked that he please pass on my message and number to Pearl so that we could re-schedule.

What set her off was the report that you were being condescending to Darius.

I find this thoroughly interesting. If I remember correctly, I was on the receiving end of being Told what I was and was not going to be doing that night. I honestly don't recall anything I said during that conversation that could have come off as condescending. Perhaps the mere fact that I was declining his demands upset him? Thinking back... he did sound quite agitated, my guess would be he does not receive that response very often so I can see how it could be construed poorly.

..Even though Darius is her retainer, he speaks for her. And if you disrespect him, you are disrespecting Pearl.

Hopefully I have thoroughly addressed this issue above and will leave it at that. The scheduling conflict that "she said she would have compromised easily on" and the message I received were markedly very different. If she is having some misunderstandings with her subordinates I wont hold it against her. When it comes to the face of your organization and how it is being represented, it is best to keep a close eye on things. Someone here is missing the mark, so perhaps a quick team meeting can get everyone back on the same page.

She wants to know how serious you really are about joining.

As I have told her in person, I am interested.

She isn't convinced you are.

That is unfortunate.

In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product and profits. Unless you've got a good team, you can't do much with the other two.