Trent nodded.
Frank finally picked up the paper.
The list was handwritten and surprisingly detailed.
At the bottom, Trent had written one sentence twice, as though the first version had not felt strong enough.
I decided their value before I knew their needs.
Frank folded the paper again.
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
Frank raised an eyebrow.
Trent corrected himself. “I mean, I wanted to apologize without asking you to make it go away.”
“That’s better.”
“I also apologized to Marcus.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me to stop stealing his ups.”
Diane covered a smile.
Frank laughed once. “Good for Marcus.”
Trent’s mouth twitched.
“He also said he’d rather learn how to close deals than win one because I got embarrassed.”
“That sounds healthy.”
Trent nodded.
Frank looked at him for a long moment.
“You know what I learned in the Army?”
Trent waited.
“The people most dangerous to a unit aren’t always the ones who make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. The dangerous ones are the people who become more committed to protecting the mistake than correcting it.”
Trent listened carefully.
“You have a choice now,” Frank continued. “You can spend six months proving today wasn’t who you are, or you can spend six months making sure it isn’t who you remain.”
Trent swallowed.
“I understand.”
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
Frank stood.
The conversation was over.
He did not shake Trent’s hand, but he did not dismiss him either.
As Trent reached the door, Frank spoke once more.
“One more thing.”
Trent turned.
“If you ever see an eighteen-year-old excited about her first car again, don’t be the man who makes her regret being excited.”
Trent’s face tightened.
“Yes, sir.”
He left.
Diane closed the door behind him.
“You were easier on him than I expected.”
“No,” Frank said. “I was harder on him than firing him would have been.”
“How so?”
“Now he has to come back tomorrow.”
Diane smiled.
“And the next day,” Frank added. “And treat ordinary people differently with no dramatic audience watching. That’s harder than losing a job and deciding everyone else was unfair.”
Diane looked through the glass at her showroom.
“You always have to turn everything into a leadership lesson?”
“No.”
“Yes, you do.”
Frank stood and straightened his jacket.