Chapter 172
Adrian
The board’s succession committee asked Adrian to recommend a future chair.
He refused to recommend a family member. He also refused to recommend himself.
The committee expected a longer explanation. He gave them one: “A successor should be selected by competence, accountability, and the ability to leave the company stronger than their ego.”
They asked whether he believed he had met those standards.
“Not consistently.”
The answer made the minutes uncomfortable. It remained in them.
Three candidates entered the second round: Sofia, a regional operations director named Priya Shah, and an external governance specialist. Each had to present a five-year plan and identify the powers they would surrender to independent oversight.
The family office lobby filled with employees who wanted to listen. Adrian stood at the back.
Priya’s plan included a rule that surprised everyone: no chair could serve more than two consecutive terms, even if the board considered the chair indispensable.
“Indispensability is a succession failure,” she said.
Adrian wrote the phrase down.
After the presentations, the committee asked him for his view. He said Priya had the clearest plan, but he would abstain from the final vote.
Sofia later accused him of making restraint look noble.
“I am not trying to make it look noble.”
“Then stop looking pleased when you surrender a privilege.”
He laughed because she was right.
At home, he told Amara the committee had begun the process.
“Do you want to win?”
“I want the company to choose someone who can disagree with me.”
“That is not the same answer.”
“It is the only answer I trust.”
Mira was asleep upstairs. The house no longer felt like a branch of Sterling. It felt like a place where the company’s decisions were discussed only when the adults had finished being people.