Page 36 of Ideal Life

Alas, she did have a meeting to attend. Talia was tempted to play hooky and continue her joyride and just rewind later to undo it. But she’d never once ditched a day of school—even when she called in a sick day, she always ended up going to school anyway because she was too responsible and too afraid to fall behind in class—so she docked at Transport Hub 7 outside the main headquarters building, whispered a thank-you to her Segway, and went inside.

After the meeting, Talia did a postmortem on her performance.

She’d dopily said her name over and over as she shook hands with the two dozen people in the room—“Hi, I’m Talia Morgan. I’m Talia Morgan. I’m Talia Morgan.”

She’d been too quiet during the first hour, which left her feeling more like a little girl than a CEO.

And then Jack Zimmer, Omni’s founder and CEO, had come in during the second hour, and Talia had stood up like an idiot, as if he were the king and all his subjects were expected to rise. Everyone else, of course, had remained seated. She’d bumbled then and forgotten her own name when he approached her. Which was even more stupid, given that she’d repeated “Talia Morgan” a couple thousand times not long before.

Ideal Life Queen Elizabeth: Next time, perhaps you could role-play ahead of an important meeting to be better prepared for performance under unfamiliar and stressful situations.

“Next time,” Talia said, “is right now.”

She rewound her watch—not too quickly—and did the meeting again.

Talia did not repeat her name each time she was introduced to another Omni executive.

She piped up with incredibly insightful comments during the first hour. (One exec said Talia was so sharp she was almost prescient.)

And when Jack Zimmer came in, she did not rise or expect heralds to start playing “God Save the King.” Instead, she smiled professionally and only stood when he came over to shake her hand. She did so as an equal—one confident, self-possessed CEO to another.

Talia: Nailed it.

Sam: Congrats! I knew you would.

Talia: I admit that I gave myself a redo.

Sam: Ah.

Talia: But it still counts anyway, right?

Sam:

Talia: I mean, it’s like retaking a test. It’s the second better score that gets recorded for posterity.

Sam:

Talia: Hello?

Sam: Just…

Talia: Just what?

Sam: Don’t overuse it, okay, Tal? We don’t really know what the consequences of using it are, long term. I know you always want to improve yourself, but I worry.

Talia: Trust me, I’m fine, Sam. It’s only a tool, and I’ve got it under control.

Talia

Talia overslept the next morning, which wasn’t like her. She was usually up at six to do a hyperefficient dumbbell workout on an app she liked before checking email, showering, and catching up on news while drinking a smoothie (macrobalanced, of course, for the optimal combination of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats).

But she’d been more tired than usual lately; it was probably just because there was so much going on with acquisition due diligence and startup life in general.

Ideal Life Queen Elizabeth: Perhaps you ought to set two alarms for tomorrow morning.

She rolled her eyes. “Dismiss.” Queen Elizabeth disappeared.

The buzz in the Ideal Life office was palpable from the moment Talia walked in. Even though the company spanned three floors, it seemed like all the employees were gathered in the common area on the fourth.