What Are The Key Lessons In The Making Of A Manager?

At the company's annual gala, the CEO announced that this year's top sales performer would receive a two-million-dollar year-end bonus. I was the top performer. However, my manager called me into his office the very next day and explained that the company was cutting costs and improving efficiency. As a result, my bonus had to be reduced. I initially assumed everyone's bonus was being cut. Then, I found out I was the only one getting shortchanged. Even worse, they handed my position to a useless coworker who could barely do the job. I understood everything immediately. 'So this is how it is. You're tossing me aside after you got what you wanted from me.' Fine. I stopped putting in any effort from that day forward. I clocked in, did the bare minimum, and watched the company slowly fall apart. Sales began to drop month after month. Even the major clients I had already secured began withdrawing their investments. That was when the CEO finally panicked. He showed up at my front door, begging me to fix things. I kicked the door open and looked down at him. "You think a garbage company like yours deserves my help?"

I had been managing the company’s warehouse software for five years. Then the new manager came to me out of the blue, saying I didn’t understand frontline operations and that I was being fired. Looking at the five-thousand-dollar severance, I just nodded. “Fine.” He patted my shoulder after seeing me so compliant and started lecturing. “Young people should be out on the line, moving boxes! What’s the use of sitting in the office staring at data every day? “We’re a logistics company. Strength is what matters, not a tech geek like you!” I glanced at the high-end gaming computer in his office and obediently replied, “Yes, Mr. Fuller. Lesson received.” Maybe I had been too comfortable these past few years, and he thought I was dispensable. So, I handed over my ID badge and casually deleted all my personal login keys from my computer. Little did he know that the entire warehouse logistics, inventory management, and route planning software had been coded by me. I had let the company use it for free simply because the place was close to home and the work was easy. Now that I was gone, the system running on my personal cloud server was naturally inaccessible. Tens of thousands of items in the warehouse ground to a halt. As for any commercial software that could replace my system, a year’s subscription would cost exactly one thousand times my severance.

"Alexia, don't take any of the company's holiday bonus boxes. You're not one of us—there's nothing for you." My manager, Kevin Davis, delivered the notice coldly, as if he were commenting on the weather—routine, impersonal. My hand stilled on the mouse. "The rest of you, come with me. We're heading to the company gala to collect your million-dollar bonuses!" My colleagues filed out in high spirits. I watched their retreating backs and answered with a bitter, "Okay." I was a contract worker. For seven years, I had always been the odd one out in the department. Our ID badges said it all—blue for full-time employees, gray for me. Time off was no different. Full-time employees had weekends; I got one day off a month. As for pay and benefits, they enjoyed meal allowances, housing subsidies, team outings, afternoon snacks, holiday gifts, year-end bonuses… I received a fixed salary of three thousand dollars a month. I sat down, opened my computer, and returned to the candlestick charts of my stocks. They didn't know that I was the company's largest anonymous individual shareholder. And they certainly didn't know that tonight, at the company gala, I would step onto the stage as the new Chairman—and my very first proposal would be to lay off their entire department.

Vincent Okoye has spent a decade building a spotless reputation at London’s top tech advertising firm. Sharp, composed, and fiercely loyal, he’s finally on the brink of promotion, until everything unravels. The night he lets go of his carefully guarded control, he ends up in bed with a charming stranger. By morning, that stranger is no longer a mystery, he’s Ethan Levitt, Vincent’s new boss, old university flame, and the son of the company’s enigmatic CEO. Ethan offers him everything he’s ever wanted: recognition, influence… and maybe something dangerously close to love. But there’s a condition, complete obedience, in and out of the boardroom. Caught between the seductive pull of his past and the steady loyalty of Pascal, the man who’s stood by him for years, Vincent is forced to choose. But in a world of ambition, secrets, and shifting power, love may come with the highest price of all. Desire. Loyalty. Power. In this game, someone’s bound to lose. And Vincent can’t afford for it to be him

The moment they released the year-end audit notice, I just stared in disbelief at the mention of my car, which I had paid for in full and in cash. It was boldly listed under the company’s fixed assets. “Our company practices a ‘family-friendly’ culture. What’s yours is the company’s. We’re a family. There’s no need to get picky about what’s yours or mine.” As if that was not enough, the company fired the driver and handed the chauffeuring duty to me. “Here’s the reception schedule for this month. Also, please pick up my dad at Babolle at 3 a.m. tonight.” My expression had darkened. Nonetheless, the human resources manager continued, “In a family, there’s no ‘yours’ or ‘mine’. My dad is your dad, right?” I was so furious that I almost exploded. ​ “I’m taking my car back, then!” She immediately took out a loan contract. “Simple. Pay by instalments. Work here for three years and you can ‘buy’ back your car.” So not only did I have to work as a driver for free, but I also had to pay to reclaim my car. Ever since the human resources manager parachuted in, she cut perks and cancelled vacations. She even started to dig into my wallet! “I quit!” She sneered. Then, she brandished a thick employee handbook. “Clause 1867 states that an employee who resigns of their own accord will need to pay double their salary. You’re under a six-month probation starting from now. Pass it, then you can leave.”

This is not your typical CEO & secretary story. The roles are actually switched. Candice Hunter is a very free spirited lady, she lives as if it’s her last day on earth. While others are driven with motivation, she is driven by her motto, “a slut is the female version of a male player.” She however, isn’t a player but rather the game creator. Her game is simple, get under the guy that catches your eye. She has never failed that rule for every guy she has every liked, she has slept with. And she never, ever catches feelings. The only stable relationship she has ever kept is school. Now fresh out of varsity and ready to kickstart a permanent job as an assistant to the CEO of the biggest marketing company, Candice was not ready for the task awaiting her; Dark chocolate, well-built, intelligent and very handsome man behind the CEO desk, Delroy Zwide. Not only will the thirty-year-old capture her eyes but also her heart from afar. But Candice is not one to fall so she will need to strike fast and get him into bed, the twist? Sweeter than white chocolate because Delroy Zwide is a 30 year-old that has never had any sexual experience because he is a Christian. Will Candice be able to tame the CEO and get him to drop his pants or will she lose at her own game by catching feelings? Read to find out.