Throughout the entire meeting, one man, Peter
Vanderwild, remained silent and attentive, like a
brilliant, slightly awed graduate student who understood
all the basics – but who was learning the finer points
from a group of experts. At twenty-eight, Peter was a
former Harvard “whiz kid” with a genius I.Q., who
specialized in reviewing companies for Intercorp to
acquire, analyzing their potential for profit, and then
making his recommendations to Matt. Haskell Electronics
had been one of Vanderwild’s choices, and it was going to
be his third winner in a row. Matt had sent him here to
Chicago with the rest of the team because he wanted Peter
to experience firsthand what happened after a company was
acquired. He wanted him to observe what could not be seen
on the financial statements that Peter relied on so
heavily when he made his recommendations to buy a company
– like controllers who were lax about collecting money,
and human resources directors who were close bigots.
Matt had brought him there to observe and to be
observed. Despite Peter’s outstanding success thus far,
Matt knew he still needed guidance. Moreover, he was cocky
and hypersensitive, brash and timid, depending upon the
situation, and that was something Matt intended to curb.
He had a tremendous amount of raw talent; it needed
channeling.
“Peter?” Matt said, “Any new developments in your area
that we ought to hear about?”
Peter handed him a folder labeled RECOMMENDED
ACQUISITIONS/COMMERCIAL PROPERTY COMPANIES. In it were
data sheets on the three companies he’d mentioned, and a
dozen other, less appealing ones. More relaxed now, he sat
back down.
Matt opened the file and saw that the dossiers were
long and Peter’s analyses were very complex. Rather than
detain the other men needlessly, he said, “Peter has been
his usual thorough self, gentlemen, and this file is going
to take considerable time to go over. I think we’ve
covered everything that needs to be discussed for now.
I’ll meet with each of you next week. Let Miss Stern know
when you’re ready to go over your individual divisions in
more detail.”
