Page 57 of Take a Moment

She takes another bite of her panettone, leaving me with the agony of having to wait until she has swallowed before I know what’s going on. I watch her intently, willing her to chew faster so I can hear the case against me and prepare my defence.

‘All right,’ she says finally. ‘I’ll get to the point. Alex, I know you’ve only been with us for a few months, but what I see in you is a level of potential I’ve seen in very few people. I’d like to nominate you for the Future Leaders talent programme. That is, if you’re interested?’

What? This isn’t the showdown I was expecting. Far from it. I was convinced that Danielle had finally made some progress in her bid to oust me. Realising this not to be the case, I feel a bit guilty for jumping to conclusions. Then I remember how Danielle has behaved towards me since I joined and the guilt evaporates faster than a puddle in a hot desert.

I break into a huge smile. ‘Of course I’m interested, Emmanuel. Thank you so much. But are you sure about this? As you say, I’ve only been here a couple of months. Also, what about…’ I can’t bear to finish my sentence.

‘I’ve taken all that into consideration. Weneedgreater diversity at senior levels within the company. I realise that one day you may no longer be able to take on such a challenge, but why shouldn’t you have the opportunity to do so while you can? With your potential, and the right development, I can see you taking on a role at my level within a year. And I expect that within three to five years I’ll be reporting to you.’

I’m stunned by Emmanuel’s candour. She’s talking about me succeeding and climbing the career ladder beyond her, and she’s not just accepting it, she’s encouraging it.

‘Emmanuel, wow. I don’t know what to say. Thank you for having such confidence in me.’

‘You made it easy, Alex.’ She smiles at me, almost affectionately. ‘Now, eat up and I’ll run you through the programme, what the expectations are, etc. Just to be sure this is for you.’

I take a satisfying bite of my panettone as Emmanuel starts to share the details. While she talks, I find myself getting more and more excited. Me? One of the company’s future top leaders? I’ve read about the programme; only a handful of employees get put through it every year. I was doing well in my previous job, but the talent scheme there was like the holy grail. So many people pursuing it, but never seeming to get the tap on the shoulder. I came to Birmingham to claim back my life and, boy, have I managed that.

I had nothing to worry about. Danielle is a dissatisfied, spiteful person. But she’s not really a threat. I won’t let her get to me again. This is the confidence boost I needed to make sure of that.

Chapter 20

Emmanuel’s vote of confidence carries me through the week, pushing my nagging exhaustion to one side. Things seem to happen very quickly: I receive my programme information by email, then a date is set for an induction day that I’ll attend alongside some other company colleagues. Between this and the flirty, stomach-swirling messages torpedoing back and forth between me and Matt, I keep thinking this is all too good to be true. Even Danielle doesn’t rattle me, though she keeps popping up, armed with some snarky comment or other.

Friday is no exception to this. As we’re parked in our usual meeting room, having our weekly project meeting with colleagues from our international offices joining through Zoom, Danielle decides to throw in yet another of her grenades.

‘Sorry for keeping you a couple of minutes late – especially on a Friday.’ I start to wrap things up. ‘That was really useful to work through the specific stakeholder issues we’re experiencing. Before we sign off, does anyone have any final questions or concerns about what we’ve discussed and agreed today?’

There’s a collective ‘no’ in response.

‘I’m just concerned it’s 4:32 p.m. on a Friday and I’m not in the pub yet,’ Dhruv jokes.

‘Shall I add that to the issue log?’ I throw back.

There’s a smattering of laughter in response to our regular double act. I’m about to wish everyone a good weekend when Danielle pipes up.

‘Actually, I have a question.’

‘Sure, Danielle.’ I smile easily at her, but I’m wondering why she feels the need to hold everyone up even longer and what kind of shit she’s about to try to stir up. ‘What’s on your mind?’

‘I was justwondering… if you’re going to have less time to manage the project now, have you put plans in place to cover some of your responsibilities?’

‘Sorry, Danielle. I’m not sure what you’re referring to?’

‘Oh, you know, because you’re on the Future Leaders programme now. That will take up quite a bit of your time. Congratulations, by the way.’

I blanch internally, but ensure I keep my face poker-straight. How the hell does she know about that? Emmanuel and I were keeping that between us until next week, when she was going to announce it at the quarterly departmental meeting. Emmanuel has already warned me that this kind of internal success can cause resentment among colleagues who have not been successful – Felix, our change manager, being one who didn’t quite make the cut – which is why the announcement was to be carefully managed.

I take a moment to consider my response, so I can ensure that I keep things as smooth as possible.

‘Thank you, Danielle. Everyone, this news was supposed to be shared next week. I haven’t yet had the chance to digest it myself.’

‘So, will you be delegating some of your responsibilities?’ Danielle asks, before anyone else can get a word in.

‘We’re still working things through, Danielle. I expect I’ll keep the majority of my workload, but I may need support with some of the project governance activities.’

I actually do know this answer to this – Emmanuel’s arranging for me to have a project assistant – but it’s not appropriate to share this now.

‘Now that Danielle’s ruined your big news…’ Dhruv throws a look in her direction. ‘…may we offer our congratulations as well?’

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