Before Jeff could go find Clare, she called to announce that her meeting had been cancelled and that Bobby was on his way back to the office.

“He wants an update on the Ted situation,” she explained. “I told him that there was no news yet.”

Jeff tried to hide any sense of disappointment in his voice. “Why don't you guys come by anyway,” he suggested.

Fifteen minutes later, the two executives were walking through Jeff's door, smiling, with no idea what they were about to learn.

“Hey boss,” Bobby announced, before adjusting his approach. “Uh oh. What's wrong?”

“Does something seem wrong?” Jeff asked.

“You seem kind of down,” Clare confirmed. “What's up?”

Jeff took a breath. “Sit down.”

“Uh oh,” Bobby repeated.

“Okay, here's the thing. Ted just called and,” Jeff paused, “he opted out of the interview process.”

“What?” Bobby asked first. “Why?”

“He said he's not sure he wants to come out of retirement after all.”

Bobby was suddenly very serious. “Bullshit. That guy hated retirement. What did he say?”

Jeff looked at Clare before answering. “That's what he said. But I think there was more.”

“More what?” Bobby wanted to know.

Clare jumped in and directed her question at Jeff. “Do you think we might have scared him off?”

“What?” Bobby seemed almost angry. “How?”

“I think he might have felt a little threatened by all the cultural questions,” Jeff admitted. “Either he was offended, or didn't like what he was hearing.”

Bobby was incredulous. “Have we heard anything from his references?”

“He never sent us references,” Jeff explained. “But we did reach out to a few contacts that we thought might help us.”

Clare added, “We called the head of HR from NBC, but she gave us nothing, just a generic acknowledgment that he wasn't fired. The others haven't called back yet.”

No one spoke for a few long seconds.

“Do you guys think we might be taking this culture stuff too far?” Bobby wasn't really asking a question. “I mean, we're screwed.”

Jeff wanted to argue with Bobby but decided to let him vent as much as he needed to. He wasn't finished.

“No one is perfect. We can't afford to put all these restrictions on the people we hire.” He turned to Jeff. “You said yourself that we'll have to hire even more people if we want to hit our new numbers, and then you go and make it harder. That's like tying one hand behind your back in a boxing match. This is crazy.”

Clare countered, “Bobby, this isn't just an employee. It's a leader, someone who will be hiring other people. He's a guy we're going to have to work with and depend on. And if he's not right, there's no way we can expect others to get it.”

Jeff was glad that Clare seemed to understand. Until she turned to him.

“So is there any way we can get him to reconsider? Did he seem like he was sure of the decision?”

“I don't think he's going to reconsider,” Jeff answered. “And I'm not convinced we want him to.”

Bobby sighed. “Maybe the humble, hungry, smart thing is wrong.”

Clare shrugged.

Jeff couldn't believe that one man's decision not to take a job could lead intelligent people to abandon their standards and principles so easily. As badly as he wanted to do something to prove that their work around humble, hungry, and smart was right, he didn't see an opportunity at that moment. He just sat there for a few awkward seconds.

Bobby broke the silence. “I've got to be over at Oak Ridge in ten minutes. Then I have a dinner thing. I'll see you guys tomorrow.” Then he added, without looking Jeff in the eye, “I'm sorry I got so upset, but I'm struggling with all this right now.”

And with that, he left.