His Naughty Lessons

** Eli **

"Miracles Gaming was not one of our top candidates at the beginning," his father continued. "But Malcolm is advocating strongly for them now, provided that we invest heavily in Harper McKenzie’s proposal. He has good faith in the market response once that project is completed."

"And let me guess — the CFO opposes this," Eli commented.

"Yes. It is Stephen’s job to consider budgets and risks, which in this case are quite significant. And he isn’t wrong to suggest that our judgment on the matter might be affected by our acquaintance with a certain Miracles employee."

Finally, here came the discussion Eli was prepared for. "I haven’t even said a word regarding my judgment yet, have I?" He spread his hands. "Stephen’s whispers are already planting a bias in your head, before anyone else even gets a chance to give you their opinions. That’s a dangerous way to run a company if you ask me."

His father regarded him with interest. "And what would you say about Malcolm’s stance?"

"His thoughts are his own. If you think I was somehow able to buy off you chief technical advisor, I’d be flattered, but unfortunately that kind of suspicion won’t look good on your leadership team."

There was a moment of silence. "Good reasoning," his father conceded. "Though I would hope that your opinion of me could’ve been higher than this ... The reason why I called off the directors meeting is not the biases you are suspecting. I know red flags when I see them, and I trust my own eyes more than anyone else’s words."

Eli frowned a little at that. "Enlighten me, then. What other reasons could there be?"