Series: Martha, we bought a professional agency deck for the anniversary pitch, so please put your hand-bound portfolio away, my best friend and business partner of twenty years, Evelyn Brooks, said quie...

The tax deadline passed, unceremoniously, without my signature on the solvency release form. The silence from Albright & Brooks was deafening, but I knew that [more…]

The air in the corporate compliance office at First Midwest Bank was thick with the scent of old paper and ozone from copy machines. It [more…]

The bank’s forensic audit began with a speed and intensity that was terrifying to behold. It wasn’t a casual review; it was a full-scale dismantling [more…]

The grand ballroom of the Chicago Marketing Association luncheon glittered with chandeliers and the subdued murmur of a hundred conversations. Evelyn sat at the head [more…]

The master of ceremonies reached the podium, his voice booming with forced cheer. “And now, to present this year’s ‘Visionary Leader’ award to none other [more…]

Within forty-eight hours, the natural financial consequences of Evelyn’s actions took over with brutal, unstoppable speed. The initial shock of her abrupt departure from the [more…]

Exactly one year after the fateful anniversary party, the one where Evelyn had cropped me out of the company photograph, I sat at a small, [more…]