“But I’m the boss, and I have to.  You’ll be a boss, someday, and you may have to, then.  But until you get there …”

She waved at him, backing slowly towards his door. She crossed her hands over her heart, and mouthed, “I’m gone. Thank you.”

He waved her off with a smile, and mouthed back, “Make me proud.”

She returned his smile, and turned and pulled on the glass door, skipping out.

She was humming a tune as she kept skipping down the hall, heading toward her desk.  It was 8:00 pm already, and the office halls were gradually darkening as almost everyone had left to start their weekends.

Diane liked working in this firm – it was fairly small, but there was a distinct team atmosphere that pervaded.  It was part of the firm’s operating philosophy.  There were only about 12 principals, and they were supported by about 25 staff.  Unlike the majority of finance firms, it didn’t offer bonuses, but it did allow principals and staff to invest in deals the firm was making.  So all the incentives lay in ensuring the firm always gave its clients the top-shelf service it was gaining a solid reputation for, instead of fooling clients.

Most of the staff were “geeks” but there were more than a few “sales and marketing” and creative types mixed in, also.  George and Mark encouraged innovation, and liked to mix things up in putting teams together who would work on the projects that principals were working on, to keep things fresh.  But they could draw the line quickly when they’d detected excessive risk-taking.

She could sense this early that Mark was grooming her to be a principal, and she’d been pulling together capital already to prepare for that day, so that she could throw in on the deals that she would work on, when that day came.  In fact, for the deal she’d helped close today, she herself had put some capital in – fronted by Bette, who assured her that Diane could repay it later (“when the firm realizes its investment.  You did a great job with this deal, Diane.  You should reap some benefit from it.”)

As she was thinking about her meeting with Mark, Terry suddenly popped out of nowhere and surprised Diane, “Hey!”