529 The Trap in the Interview (1/2)
Williams got into his own office with several newspapers. He was in a very good mood.
”Good morning, Mr. Williams.” His secretary greeted him the moment she saw him.
”Good morning, Jenny.” Williams smiled nicely and then said, ”Go to Mr. Frey and tell him to come to my office.”
”I was about to tell you that Mr. Frey is waiting in your office. He came in very early this morning,” Jenny said.
”It seems like someone was even more excited than me.” Shaking his head with a smile on his face, he stepped into his office.
Frey had been waiting for quite a while. He stood up when he saw Williams. He was about to speak when Williams threw the newspapers at him.
”Good job! We won four medals in one day. This is the best results we've ever gotten. Almost all of the media is talking about this. You as the COO must have done quite a lot of work behind the scenes,” Williams said with compliment.
”I have been in contact with the media. The front pages of newspapers had already been decided when I talked to them and had them changed. Of course, we paid for it. I promised them that we will print some advertisements in their newspaper,” Frey said.
”It's worth it. The dosing scandal inflicted us with a lot of negative attention. We really needed some good news to boost our public image,” Williams said, nodding.
Frey continued, ”Mr. Williams, I think we should hit the iron while it's hot and increase our publicity. I hope I can get some more funding.”
”We have quite a big budget this year, right? The dosing scandal has cost us a big sum of PR expenses. We have been trying to cut the expenses recently so you need to give me a good reason,” Williams said, frowning.
”Yes. We do have a bigger publicity budget this year due to the Olympics. I assure you, it is absolutely worth it to increase the budget. We did very well in the Olympics, and this will get us more sponsors. We can get twice the amount we spend now from sponsors,” Frey said.
Williams nodded. Weighing the pros and cons of the whole thing, he did not speak.
Frey continued, ”Mr. Williams, our track and field team has won 11 gold medals so far this Olympics. This is more than we won in the last Olympics, yet it is now only the fifth day of this one. Besides the marathon in the last day, we have four days left to get even more gold. We can win at least 15 gold medals even according to conservative estimates. With a little luck, we may even win 20 gold medals!”
”The national team of this year will be historic. This is a heaven-sent chance for us to expand our influence! We can wipe off the negative influence caused by the dosing scandal and gain more recognition from the public. It would be such a pity to miss this opportunity and we may never have a chance like this again.”
Williams was finally convinced. He nodded, saying, ”You are right. It is a rare opportunity, I agree with you. I'll try to persuade the board to increase the budget.”
”I also want to go to Europe. So I need some PR expenses,” Frey said.
”What is your plan?” Williams asked.
”I want to meet the officers of the Laureus World Sports Academy,” Frey said.
”You want to lobby them?” Williams understood immediately what Frey was going to do.
Frey nodded. ”The Team of the Year award should be ours. I want to see if Alwyn or Alexander can get the Comeback of the Year award. Each of them has gotten a gold medal in the Olympics, which makes them both successful comebacks.”
”About Laureus, I heard some rumors that they will have three more awards this year: Action Sportsperson, Sporting Inspiration, and Coach of the Year,” Williams said, unconcernedly.
Frey hesitated as he was not so sure about what Williams was trying to say. He then asked, ”Mr. Williams, you mean, you want me to persuade them to give the Coach of the Year award to Dai Li?”
Williams nodded, ”We hired him because we wanted him to be our scapegoat, but he saved us. Don't you think we should thank him?”
”We should,” Frey lied. The Williams he knew was a person who didn't care about repaying his benefactors.
”You didn't follow,” Williams said, with an expression showing full seriousness, ”I want to show our faith to Dai Li through this. He has shown us sufficient coaching and leadership abilities. He has earned it. Now you see my point?”
”I got it. I'll try to persuade them and get Dai Li nominated for the award,” Frey nodded immediately.
If Dai Li hadn't been as good as he was, he would've been used as a scapegoat.
Dai Li had been an excellent coach and had helped the U.S. team recover from a scandal, so they should recognize his excellence.
Dai Li had become valuable for the U.S. Track and Field Association. Dai Li proved that his coaching and leadership abilities were better than other coach's.
Only the best earns the respect of others. It is human instinct to please the more powerful ones.
…
Winning 4 gold medals in a single day was great encouragement for the U.S. track and field team. The gold medals for the man's high jump and 110 meter hurdles especially inspired the athletes because they hadn't been supposed to win them.
Up to now, the US team had won 11 gold medals. In the last Olympics, they won in total 10 gold medals. The Olympic Games was just halfway through and they had already won more gold medals than they had in the last Olympics. In all likelihood they were going to get more medals as well. A better overall result this was already secured'.