he was the president of a major advertising1 firm and i was a very young ma*ment consultant2. i had been recommended to him by one of his employees who had seen my work and thought i had something to offer. i was nervous. at that stage in my career, it wasn’t very often that i got to talk to the president of a company.
the appointment was at 10:00 a.m., for one hour. i arrived early.
promptly3 at 10, i was ushered4 into a large and airy room, with furniture upholstered in bright yellow.
he had his shirtsle*s rolled up and a mean look on his face.
“you’ve only got 20 minutes,” he barked.
i sat there, not saying a word.
“i said, you’ve only got 20 minutes.”
again, not a word.
“your time’s ticking away. why aren’t you saying anything?”
“they’re my 20 minutes,” i replied. “i can do what*r i want with them.”
he burst into laughter.
we then spoke5 for an hour and a half. i got the job.
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