Executive Suite Page #9

Thank you, Walt.

George?

I second the nomination.

Miss Martin.

"Mr. Loren P. Shaw has been

placed in nomination

"for the presidency

of Tredway Corporation

"before this 116th meeting

of the board of directors

"on the 20th day of June, 1953."

There being present a quorum of the total

number of directors as of this date,

an affirmative vote delivered four times

shall constitute an elective maJority.

Are there any other nominations?

Nominations on this first ballot

are now closed.

If you'll please place your ballots

in these envelopes.

Your ballot, Mr. Walling.

One "no" for Mr. Shaw.

One "yes" for Mr. Shaw.

Two "yes" for Mr. Shaw.

Three "yes" for Mr. Shaw.

One "abstain. "

No decision on the first ballot.

Miss Tredway,

could I speak with you for a moment?

Perhaps I failed to

make my position clear this afternoon.

How about a break

before we go on with this?

- Anybody got an aspirin?

- In there.

Miss Tredway,

I don't know how you Just voted,

but I wanted to tell you how sorry I am

for what I said.

No matter how I feel about the company,

I had no right to do that.

Well, Loren, how does it feel?

- What?

- Not getting it.

- I had her. I know I had her.

- Oh, you still do.

It was you. Why? Why?

3,700 reasons.

I told you I was...

I told you I was gonna do

my best for you, didn't I?

I didn't realize this afternoon

how much bargaining power I really had.

It's not Just that my "no" keeps you out

and my "yes" puts you in.

Loren, I want the delivery

of that stock guaranteed.

You blasted idiot.

I have it for you right here.

Julia Tredway's

pulling out of the company,

and I'm handling the sale of her stock.

Here's your 3,700 shares, right here.

A letter of transfer

signed by me, as president.

Do you mind?

Now, let's go.

All right, now, Miss Martin.

Mary, is there anything wrong?

- Is it all over?

- No, not yet.

Oh, Don, please don't hate me.

I did a terrible thing to you. I really did.

- Honey, what is it?

- Fred called you right after you left.

Where is he?

He said it was important for you

to hold up the voting until he got here.

I didn't call you, Don.

And then when I did try to get through,

I couldn't find you, and...

It's okay, honey. It's all right.

Darling, I was so wrong.

If it's what you want, really want,

that's all that should

matter to either of us.

Don, is there still a chance in there?

Nothing's impossible. Remember?

You're funny.

Am I?

- Getting ready for the second ballot, Don.

- Already?

Miss Martin.

"At 6:
19, after a brief recess,

the meeting was resumed,

"and Mr. Dudley once again

placed the name of Loren P. Shaw

"in nomination for the presidency

of Tredway Corporation. "

Miss Tredway, gentlemen...

We all seem to be

in a big hurry around here, don't we?

I'd like to second the nomination...

Maybe we're a little too accustomed

to quick decisions in this room,

to directors' meetings

that never really meant anything.

If you mean that's pretty much the way

Bullard ran this company,

we might all be inclined to agree with you.

After all, isn't that why we're here,

to replace that kind

of dictatorial leadership?

With what, Loren?

- Well, I was about to tell you...

- Replace it with what?

Just a second, George.

I want to answer that question.

After all, Miss Tredway is

a maJor stockholder in this company,

and if she, or anyone else,

wants to know where I stand...

I believe that a company is answerable

first and last to its stockholders.

To fulfill that obligation,

primary emphasis must be

placed upon return on investment.

- Jesse.

- Don.

- Anything happened?

- Not yet.

Thought I could swing him. He's a mule.

Jesse, Fred, welcome.

We're into the nominations,

and I was Just trying

to make clear to everyone here

what I believe to be the only

sound basis

for corporation management today.

When the average stockholder

buys Tredway stock,

he makes an investment.

Now, the only reason

he makes it is to get a return.

That's why I believe

that corporations today

must be governed to be

what its owners want it to be,

and have paid for it to be,

a financial institution yielding the highest

and safest return on investment.

You know why more

and more corporations today

are drawing their leaders

from the ranks of controllers

and investment bankers?

Because the problems that come

to the president's office today

are predominantly financial.

I get it.

Manufacturing and selling

don't count anymore.

Of course they count, Fred,

but they're not ends in themselves,

only the means to the end.

It's a matter of management levels.

I Just said it.

At the presidential level,

the emphasis must be financial.

Take our own case.

Jesse and his staff

have done a wonderful Job

of reducing costs

on our finishing operation,

and we all appreciate the creative effort

that's been poured

into our experimental program

at the Pike Street plant.

But the truth is,

such efforts add comparatively little

to our net earnings,

even when they succeed.

Last year, they contributed

less than a quarter of what we gained

from one new tax accounting procedure

I got the government to approve.

So, you see, that one piece of work,

all purely...

Yeah, we see, all right.

While Jesse and Don

are turning out products,

you figure-Jugglers and chart-men are busy

flyspecking it with decimal points.

Well, some of us have had enough of it,

and some of us are sick

to our stomachs from it!

I've had enough of that attitude!

I know how I've been regarded

around here by most of you.

Efficiency has become a dirty word.

Budget control has a bad odor.

Well, that's my Job.

That's my responsibility,

to plug every profit leak,

to run to earth every single case

of waste and inefficiency in this company.

If I have to step on toes

and hurt feelings in the process,

that can't be helped.

But nobody's going to

say I ever had anything

but the best interests of this company

at heart while I was doing it.

You take a look at the record

of the last three years.

Fight that record.

My record.

Your record, Shaw?

Couldn't have been done without me.

Understand, I don't mean

to belittle Mr. Bullard.

We all recognize

his magnificent contribution

to this company

during its period of growth.

In other words,

Avery Bullard was the right kind of man

to save this company from disaster,

to build it up and set it on its way.

But now, we need

a different kind of management,

one that will dedicate itself to paying

the maximum dividends

to the stockholders.

Is that it?

I don't know that I'd express it

in exactly those terms,

but, yes, that's substantially

what I do mean.

Shaw, let me ask you something.

The president of a company like Tredway

would have to be a man

- of outstanding qualities, wouldn't he?

- Naturally.

A man prepared to make

a good many personal sacrifices,

willing to devote himself to the company,

mind and heart, body and soul.

Rate this script:3.0 / 2 votes