Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Kareem
“You only have one meeting while we’re there, Mr. Sheffield, and they have already assured us it will be quick.” Jana, my new assistant, gave me the rundown on the meeting we were heading up as we walked the tarmac.
I was boarding yet another flight, and I wasn’t happy about it.
I remembered a time when this was exactly what I had prayed for…
days where I hopped on and off planes and walked into one business meeting after another.
Now, I longed for more. My dreams no longer consisted of dominating boardrooms. I wanted to make a home for a family I loved.
I felt like it was time to reap the benefits of all the work I’d put in over the years.
Passing the company off to someone else no longer felt like something that would happen in the far future.
When I sat at Karina’s grandparents’ table, it reminded me of what I wanted.
I wanted to grow old with a woman and spend my days building the shit that she will probably never use. I wanted that woman to be Karina.
I got my first job at sixteen. I joined the military at eighteen and went to war in my early twenties. My life had been dedicated to building a legacy, but what was the point of having one if there was no one to pass it to?
I was still a very young man in my mid-thirties, and I was realizing I didn’t want to wait until I was sixty to retire. I had made enough money to last me several lifetimes. I could support multiple families on what I already had in the bank. I had nothing left to prove.
“Thanks, Jana. If you booked a room, cancel it. I want to go home as soon as this meeting is over.”
“Yes, sir. Canceling them now.”
Meetings and flights had become all my life. What was worse about today’s flight was that Karina wouldn’t be on it. I was meeting with Army generals who were supposed to sit in while yet another company briefed us on the endless possibilities of us working together.
After the way things went down with Michelle’s company, I had learned not to get my hopes up. I wasn’t very optimistic about today’s meeting, so I was only going to Silicon Valley for one day. I would be hopping right back on the next flight out of there.
“Do you need to stop anywhere before the meeting, Mr. Sheffield?”
“Nah, I’m good. Let’s just get this over with.”
We rolled straight off the flight and into the meeting. I didn’t need a hotel to reset nor a break. My level of give a fuck was so low when it came to anything outside of Karina, I honestly didn’t care how today turned out.
I knew what I wanted K&K Solutions to be. I also knew going in that if whoever I was meeting with today didn’t see that vision, this meeting would be over before it even started. I’d explained myself more than I ever wanted to again in my life.
“Good morning, Mr. Sheffield. Welcome to Silicon Valley.”
“Good morning.”
I kept it simple so they would get to the point. I didn’t need anybody to mistake my politeness for niceness, so I wasn’t even offering that today. I was on a mission, and once that mission was complete, I was going home.
To my surprise, the presentation was already queued when I sat down. Noticing my attention was already on the screen, the presenter didn’t waste any time. He was a young black man, and I admired the confidence as he stood in front of me, three generals, and a few other men in suits.
“Well, Mr. Sheffield, I am going to come out and say it. We want to work with you, but let me tell you why it will be more beneficial to you than it would ever be to us.”
Those words had me intrigued, so I sat back in my seat and allowed myself to get comfortable. He smiled and clicked to reveal the next slide. It didn’t take me long to analyze it, and I had to be honest. I like what I saw.
“I can sum up this entire meeting by assuring you that the soldiers will always come first. That is my promise to you, Mr. Sheffield. We have brought generals from every branch of the United States military here today so you can be assured we leave here with a deal that is not only profitable but ethical.”
I folded my arms over my chest and crossed my right leg over the left. This young man was off to a strong start. In ten minutes, he made more sense than every person who had briefed me on a recent possible deal.
“The only thing I need from you, Mr. Sheffield, is your yes. I won’t ask you to compromise on the timeframe or to give us autonomous firing power. This will be your ball game, and I speak for everyone in this room when I say we are playing by your rules.”
The more he spoke, the more I liked what I heard. I found myself naturally loosening up and even providing feedback. They had some good things to say, and what they were offering was a much better deal than I’d just walked away from.
“You have my yes.”
Running a multi-million-dollar and soon to be billion-dollar company was not easy.
It was hard to assess when you had made the right decision in the same moment you made it.
It usually took time and hindsight to see the results, but I was confident that I’d walked away at the perfect time.
Not only was this deal being presented to me today more lucrative, but it would also come with my own government contract.
I would be working with a company that thought about the actual soldiers more than how much money those soldiers could put in their pockets.
“Mr. Sheffield, we want to work with the type of businessman you have proven yourself to be.”
General Collins stood to shake my hand before I walked out, and I stopped in my tracks to return the gesture.
I didn’t know him while I was actually serving, but everything I’d learned since he became the face of the Army told me he was a man worthy of my respect.
He was black and didn’t look much older than me, so I admired how hard he had to work to get to where he was today.
“Thank you, sir. I really appreciate you seeing my vision and turning it into a presentation like this. I wasn’t sure if anybody would ever understand what I was trying to do with K&K Solutions, but I should have known that it would always be men in uniform who understood me.”
“Of course, civilians may not understand the need to safeguard soldiers’ lives, so it’s imperative we remind them.
Yes, every soldier signed on that dotted line and took an oath to lay our lives on the line for this country, but we are never going in with the expectation that the man standing next to us may not make it home.
That is never something men like us want to see happen.
So, no, they may not understand, but as long as we get it, we can keep those service members safe. ”
“Thank you, sir.”
“No, thank you, Mr. Sheffield, for standing up for what is right and not letting anything change your mind.”
“It was never a question.”
I walked away from that meeting with a reminder that following my conscience would always take me to the right destination.
That destination may not be the one I envisioned at the beginning, but it will be a place where I can save lives and make a difference.
It was just a simple reminder to never go against what I feel to make a quick buck.
I was strong on my principles, but I would be lying if I said I never doubted myself. I’d learned that doubting yourself is just another cost of doing business, but as long as I was still willing to bet on myself, I would always have a chance.
The ride back to the airport was quick. Jana and I hopped on a flight and flew right back to Austin.
I wanted to be in my own bed tonight, but more than anything, I wanted to figure out how to get close to Karina again.
The next time I would see her face consumed my thoughts for the entire flight back home.