Radical Outcomes

9Getting the Right Stuff

Try to leave out the parts that people skip.

—Elmore Leonard

Pixies. Olivia's gaze landed on the bowl of fruit on the back table, next to the different types of sugary sweet snacks, and she remembered with a smile how Marco had eaten all of the tangerines at last week's contribution session.

The room was prepared for the meeting, chairs set up in a U shape and no table in the middle. The whiteboard had a neatly drawn version of the material that had been conceived in the conference room the week before, just days before the meeting in which Marco changed his view of Olivia and her group's process. In a matter of 15 minutes, the whole scene would change: chairs would be occupied, remote callers dialed in, Jadyn projecting her screen and taking notes in real time.

The conference room door opened, and Nimit entered with Juliana and Jadyn. “Here we all are!” he announced cheerfully. “No one from Platforms here yet?”

“Not yet. But they accepted, right, Jadyn?” Jadyn nodded.

“Nice, Olivia, that's awesome,” said Nimit. “Ever since last week and the big turnaround with Marco…it's great he's been able to follow up on your emails and give you the big endorsements on this process.” He looked at the door. “Oh, and here are all the others from Oxygen! Goodness, you've got the whole gang here.”

Aimee, Katherine, and Simon walked in, shook hands, and seated themselves near Jadyn. “I'm going to start the bridge,” said Jadyn. She dialed numbers on the phone.

Callers ...