Corporate Killer - 4

Steve sets his journalistic ethics aside to join publisher Benny Sullivan on a sales call, seizing the opportunity to brown-nose his boss and shield himself from corporate killer Ron Beloit.

Sullivan and I left the city amid ominous weather reports. A blizzard was coming, threatening to disrupt airplane traffic in the Northeast just when we were due to get back to Hartsfield airport for the return flight from Atlanta. We’d have to rush our visit to the data center in Columbus in order to catch an earlier flight home. That was fine by me, if it meant reducing the amount of time I was forced to make small talk with Sullivan. About the only thing we had in common was that we were both learning the credit card business. Our mission was essentially a sales call, something I (as an ethical journalist) normally would avoid. I had to remind myself of the higher purpose behind our trip, which was to solidify my relationship with Sullivan and thus get myself out of the line of fire of his corporate killer, Ron Beloit. So yes, it was a brown-nosing opportunity as well as a sales call. And I wasn’t entirely comfortable.