"Texting with... Stella" pt. 1

Stella: Driver.

Stella: I need you for the next few days. Primarily in the afternoon, but possibly earlier.

You:  Uh, hi? And that shouldn’t be a problem. I mean, I haven't had anyone book me specifically for the upcoming days, but things could change.

Stella: If someone does, cancel. I’ll compensate you for the hours. I need you on call.

You: I guess that’s okay then.

Stella: Are you asking me or telling me?

You: I’ll be on call whenever you need me.

Stella: Good boy.

Stella: At least someone today knows how to follow proper instructions. I swear, it’s like ineptitude is contagious or something.

You:  Having trouble at work?

Stella: That question is redundant. Dealing with useless employees is more or less my full-time job.

Stella: I almost envy your one-man operation. You’ve no need to constantly waste time and resources on rectifying the numerous and inevitable fuck-ups of your underlings.

You:  I never really thought of it like that. It was always just me sorta on my own because of how the gig works. I’ve never been one for business.

Stella: Then consider this an impromptu lesson. There’s always time to learn.

You: If that’s the case, I hope you don’t mind my asking, but what happened to get you so worked up? Someone leak company info or something?

Stella: Thankfully not. I dealt with the last idiot responsible for that efficiently and directly. No such repeats since.

Stella: Also, despite what the tabloids insist, the police investigation turned up nothing and I was never formally charged with anything.

You: I’ll take your word for it. But then what’s the problem then?

Stella: Sadly, the current headache comes courtesy of an unruly sort who I’ve recently taken under my care. Needless to say, I’ve had trouble breaking them in to their new position.

Stella: Although my usual methods have a proven track record, the stubbornness of this one is proving more taxing than usual.

You: At the risk of sounding crass, why not just replace them?

Stella: Let’s just say my intuition says it’s worth keeping them around. Despite the hassle, I feel there’s potential to be had here. Like Michelangelo looking at stone and liberating the trapped figure from within.

You: You often go with your gut in business?

Stella: It’s nothing so pedestrian. I have spent years honing my skills to get a feel for everything there is in business. Be it proper marketing, selecting and vetting employees, the fickle nature of social trends and stocks, even when to have a scandal or two. Helps to keep my senses whetted.

You: So it’s all pure skill. No chance or anything.

Stella: While it may sound uncharacteristic of me, I have great fear and respect for the capricious whims of fortune.

You: I wouldn’t have expected you to believe in such a thing.

Stella: I was quite a history nerd growing up, and it taught me it’s very much a thing. Perhaps not in a metaphysical sense, but the power of chance cannot be understated.

Stella: I went so far as to read all the classics in philosophy and the social sciences I could get my hands on. In particular, I developed a fondness for Machivallei.

You: Isn’t he that guy who wrote the book on how to be a dictator and stuff?

Stella: It’s incredible how a man can live in such infamy and yet no one bothered to review the source of the controversy. You, like many people, have only a surface-level understanding of his philosophy, if even that.

Stella: He was perhaps the first person to realize that being a good person and being a good leader are not inherently related.

Stella: And he explained in great detail the risks and benefits of power and how one keeps it.

Stella: And he goes to great lengths to caution a ruler on the power of luck and fortune. How it can raise someone to lofty heights and just as easily fling them down without so much as a second thought.

Stella: And a corporation in the 21st century is no different than a kingdom. And all the tricks and scheming of feudal lords are alive and well today. We just like to pretend we’ve moved on from barbarity.

You: So you’re a firm believer that it’s better to be feared than loved?

Stella: It’s best to be both feared AND loved. As both have great power. But if you have to choose, go with feared. Fear is what keeps people in line and keeps my kingdom secure. Love alone can’t do that.

Stella: Though I must say, with my newest project, I’m struggling to keep the balance of the two.

Stella: Tell me, what do you feel is a more appropriate response to deal with a defiant personality? Employ the tried and true tactic of fear or to  pander to them with the typical affections people crave?