John called Harold's office in New York and said, "Hi, Michael, do you have time, I have something to tell you." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info"Johnny, call you back when I'm done with this round, don't worry, I'm going to win soon." Before John could finish speaking, Harold hung up the phone. John looked at the microphone in his hand a little speechlessly, once this brother sat down at the table, no one could drag him down.

Although Harold was sometimes out of tune, such as opening the game in the corporate office, John still trusted him. In the more than two decades since John's father's death, Harold has proven himself worthy of that trust. In John's eyes, Harold was definitely not confused when it came to big things.

Harold is the second child of William Kissam Vanderbilt, a full 20 years older than himself. Having travelled the world on a private yacht since he was a child, Harold was particularly nautical, especially sailing. He was a three-time America's Cup winner and was featured on the cover of Time magazine in September 1930. Harold, though, prefers bridge. In fact, it was Harold who invented modern contract bridge in 1925, and he now serves as vice chairman of the National Bridge Rules Committee. Because of his contributions to bridge, John remembers that the trophy of the Olympic Bridge Championship was named after him - the Vanderbilt Cup.

Of course, Harold hasn't always been so unprofessional. He joined the family railroad company at an early age as a senior clerk. With the exception of being drafted into the Naval Reserve as a lieutenant during World War I, commanding a patrol boat in New York, Harold continued to run the family's railroad business. After the death of his cousin Reginald in 1925, Harold became the sole representative of the family at the company's decision-making level. It was with Harold's support that John became branch manager step by step.

Since the death of three generations of Vanderbilt, the family has gradually lost control of the company. Harold seemed to be doing nothing in the company all these years, but John knew in his heart that he was keeping his head in the dark. He also knew that he was part of Harold's plan to regain control of the company. Clearly, though, Harold ultimately failed. Historically, in 1954, Harold was forced to give up his stake in the company due to a hostile takeover, and the Vanderbilt family was completely kicked out of the company.

After carefully combing through the overt and covert struggles between Harold and the company's board of directors over the years, John already vaguely sensed what the problem was. Harold has been trying to confuse his rivals and let their guard down with his passion for sailing and bridge all these years. But apparently, the old foxes on the board are not that simple. A gentle and clever push of the boat made Harold more and more famous in these two aspects, and also established the image of his wealthy son who did not do his job. This image is quite detrimental to Harold's future quest to take charge of the company.

John couldn't help but think of the famous Lord Sandwich in England. In order to discredit his image, the political enemy of the British First Admiralty made up a story about him being addicted to gambling and never having time to leave the gambling table, so he invented a story about eating cooked meat with bread and gambling. It was even named a sandwich as a food that did not conform to the code of conduct of the aristocracy of the time. Who would have thought that hundreds of years later, all political strife would have been drowned in the long river of history, and Lord Sandwich would be remembered by future generations. Harold, too, is remembered decades later for inventing the modern contract bridge, as his family and company are long gone. Now that I think about it, it's kind of ironic.

"Johnny, what's the matter with me?" Soon, Harold's phone called.

"Michael, I want to leave the company, I'm going to do it myself." John spent almost an hour telling Harold his thoughts and analysis of the company's current situation.

"Johnny, maybe you're right." There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time, and Harold finally spoke, "Within the existing framework of the company, we can't fight those old guys, maybe it's a good idea to jump out." ”

"Don't be discouraged, Michael. The old captain (family founder Corneliers Vanderbilt) switched from shipping to rail, who would have thought of today's achievements? We can start all over again in a different field. ”

"You're also a father, so let's do it if you make up your mind." Although he was cheering John up, he could still hear a hint of loneliness in Harold's tone on the phone, "But there are three things I need to remind you of. ”

"First, Cincinnati is in a mess right now, you should recover from your injuries and rush back as soon as possible. You'll have to clean up the mess caused by the flood before you can leave, or the old guys on the board will get you in trouble. ”

"Second, when you get the company in order, I will get you an investment in the board of directors, and the company will have a stake in you. The logistics industry is a big net, and before you have the ability to weave a new net, you need to weave yourself into someone else's net. This is good for you to conduct business, rest assured, I will arrange it and it will not affect your right to operate. ”

"Third, let's put the air cargo piece aside for the time being. I know it's going to be promising, but at the moment it's mainly for individual customers, and you're stealing business with the U.S. Postal Service. And now Pennsylvania Avenue is the main Democratic Party (Pennsylvania Avenue is the main thoroughfare connecting the White House and the U.S. Capitol to the U.S. Capitol in the U.S. capital. The Vanderbilts have always been Republican supporters, and 1937 was the time when the Democrats controlled the White House and Congress), and they won't let you qualify as a public transit carrier. Investments in the aerospace industry can continue, but you have to be patient and wait until the demand from corporate customers starts to increase. ”

"You mean it's the same as UPS? Buying a batch of trucks to run road transport? John asked.

"Yes and no. They mainly deliver for retailers, and now that there are more and more family cars, who needs them to deliver packages for department stores. You've got to keep your eyes on the big business. The focus is on the connection between rail and shipping bulk business. “

Is it B2B, John secretly admires Harold's vision in his heart. Every day, countless companies use railways to transport huge quantities of industrial raw materials and products, but it is impossible to build railways to every factory. How many markets are there in the upstream and downstream waiting for John to explore. Maybe I should find a few big companies and design a complete logistics solution for them. Isn't it the primary version of supply chain logistics, this John can't be more cooked.

"Johnny, are you still there?" While John was still thinking about it, Harold's voice came out of the microphone again. "Next Sunday night, there's an event at the Ford Foundation about this Louisville flood. Edsel (Henry. Ford's son, the current president of Ford, will also be there, so you'd better come with me, maybe you need to order a batch of trucks or something. ”

"Okay, Michael, I'll go to you first, and we'll have a good talk then. By the way, Ella loves your birthday present. ”

"Thanks, see you on Sunday, I hope you'll come up with a nice name for your new company then." John knew that Harold was laughing at how he had spent four months choosing Ella's name.

"Don't worry, you'll be surprised, see you on Sunday." John hung up the phone and pulled the notebook out of the drawer. Now it's time to plan for next Sunday's meeting. John certainly wants more than just a nice discount on a car. Ford, this would probably be a good customer.