Jeff made Craig's hiring official within two days, and the reaction from employees was overwhelmingly positive. That was enough to make the other three members of the executive team glad not to have hired Ted Marchbanks. But it wouldn't be the only thing.

A few days after Ted had pulled himself out as a candidate for the job at VB, one of the “unauthorized references” called. This was a former employee at NBC who knew of Ted well. Her name was Dani, and she was Kim's brother's girlfriend's sister. At first, she seemed less than forthcoming, until Jeff explained, “Actually, Ted decided not to pursue a job here after all.”

“All right then,” Dani explained, “then I guess you don't need me.”

Before she could hang up, Jeff caught her. “Can I ask you one quick question, Dani, just between you and me. You don't have to answer if you don't want to.”

After a moment, she relented. “Sure. What's your question?”

“Well, our culture is extremely,” he paused, searching for a word or phrase that would be accurate but not showy. He settled on “down-to-earth and unpretentious.”

He continued. “We were concerned that Ted might have been a little too,” again he paused, “sophisticated for us, if you know what I mean.”

Dani laughed. “Oh, I think I know what you mean.”

Before Jeff could say anything, she went on. “And let's just say that down-to-earth wouldn't be how I would describe Ted.”

“Okay,” Jeff said. “I appreciate your honesty.”

A few days later, Clare's connection came through. He was one of Ted's former clients, and he was less delicate than Dani. “Listen, Jeff. I know Bob Shanley, and he and Ted are not at all alike when it comes to personality or culture. You dodged a bullet there, if you ask me. We can just leave it at that.”

Clare and Bobby were enormously relieved when they heard about those references. Even so, occasionally, one of the three executives was likely to express some doubt about the humble, hungry, smart system and whether it would be enough. On those days, the other leaders would convince them to trust the model.

Of course, the proof would be in the pudding.