An unpleasant surprise

Jenni was finally granted an audience with the CEO, who—she could see—had personally reviewed the materials she had prepared. As she examined the assignment, Jenni was struck by how watered-down it had become: the project she was asked to analyze was one she had worked on early in her tenure, back when she was with her old team. At the time, it had been a viable project led by a capable manager. After Jenni left, however, less competent colleagues took it over, leading to mismanagement and eventual stagnation. The CEO believed the right course of action was to shut the project down. Jenni argued that, with more diligent management, it could still be salvaged. The CEO’s response was cool: as long as the client refused to pay for senior-level consulting services, they would get a junior consultant. Moreover, the CEO would not allow Jenni to work with this client even if they were willing to pay more; in the CEO’s view, Jenni was reserved exclusively for premium clients.