Jeff decided not to finish the rest of his beer. He figured he'd need to get back to work and be focused for the rest of the day, and probably into the evening.

Bob told his nephew that he had already informed his two most senior people of the impending change, and he advised Jeff to go see them right after lunch. Jeff agreed, and then asked whether he would have complete freedom in running the company.

Bob assured him. “No limits or restrictions. Starting immediately.”

Glad to have that assurance, Jeff spent the rest of lunch talking with his uncle about his health and his family. No business at all. At the end of the conversation, as he stood to leave, he apologized for questioning Bob's intent.

“I don't blame you,” Bob assured him. “I'd have wondered the same thing.”

Suddenly, Bob smiled and looked at Jeff intently. “You know something? One of the worst things about all this is that I'm not going to get to work with you.” He paused to avoid getting emotional. “You might not know this, but I've been more excited these past couple months than I have been in years.”

Jeff gave his dad's brother the kind of hug that had nothing to do with business and left the restaurant with a heavy heart.

On his way back to the VB offices, he called the two executives he would be relying on to keep the company alive, and scheduled a meeting that afternoon. One of the reasons he hadn't lost all hope in his future at the firm was his confidence in two long-time employees, Clare Massick and Bobby Brady.

Clare was a tallish blonde woman a few years younger than Jeff who ran all of the firm's administration, which included finance, legal, and HR. She had been the only human resources leader in the company's history, hired begrudgingly seven years earlier after Bob's personal attorney convinced him that not having an HR function was exposing the company from a legal standpoint. Bob insisted on finding someone who would be supportive of the company and interested in construction. As he explained it to the candidates he interviewed, “I don't want some tree-hugging activist who hates business coming in here and screwing up the culture.”

Many of those candidates opted out of the process, but when Clare heard those words, she knew she belonged. The daughter of a military dad and a dance teacher mom, she had struggled to find her calling after college. Fascinated by psychology and business, but not enough to pursue a career in either field on its own, she decided that human resources might provide her with the right combination.

Her first several years in HR prior to joining VB were horrendous—a mix of bureaucratic protocol and touchy-feely workshops. Clare was all but ready to bail from the field when she heard about the job opening at Valley Builders. After 20 minutes with Bob Shanley, Clare had a change of heart.

Jeff had come to know Clare over the past few years, especially through his teamwork consulting engagement with VB. During the executive team sessions, he had quickly learned why Bob liked her and why he had put so much responsibility in her hands. Thankfully, she seemed glad when Jeff joined the company, so he figured they would work well together.

Bobby Brady, a smiling, barrel-chested, fifty-two-year-old with graying hair, was the head of all field operations at VB. He had first proved his good nature eleven years earlier when he arrived at the firm and his peers decided that it would be too confusing to have two Bobs on the leadership team. So, in a moment of playful cruelty, they referred to him as Bobby, knowing full well that this was the name of the youngest boy character on The Brady Bunch, one of America's most iconic sitcoms.

Bob, or Bobby, didn't blink, embracing the moniker with self-deprecating humor and unexpected grace, deciding that he would be able to discard the name before long. Much to his surprise, he quickly grew accustomed to his new identity at work, and found that it helped him build relationships with contractors and vendors who liked to tease him.

It certainly helped that Bobby knew the construction business cold. He had built a solid reputation in his career for being honest, diligent, and timely in his projects—something that set him apart from many of his peers in the industry.

When Jeff called Clare and Bobby on the way back to the office to ask them to meet with him in Bob's office, he learned that Bob had broken the big news to them just a few hours earlier over breakfast. Jeff was more than a little curious to find out what Clare and Bobby thought of the new arrangement after only a few hours to digest it. Their reactions would not be what he expected.