Nepotism - In business and life

It was early in the workday – around 7:00 AM when there was a knock at the door to Matteo’s office, he indicated for the person on the other side to enter, and he noticed the individual that entered was extremely attractive and well-put together. He assumed that this was his Chief of Staff and she would certainly be an asset based on her resume that he had reviewed prior to joining the company, her looks would definitely be a plus to both and then there was the visual appeal that would not be horrible. Hudson Brown introduced herself with a quiet assuredness that made her stock rise with her new boss, while only being out of his Harvard MBA program for 8 weeks it was clear he was going to be going places.

Hudson had researched Matteo De Luca and found very little on him from a social media perspective, this fact led to her taking down most of her social media and cleaning up her Twitter account so that she would be seen as the right fit for Mr. De Luca’s team. Once she was standing just beyond the two chairs at Matteo’s desk she spoke for the first time – “Mr. De Luca, my name is Hudson Brown and I will be your Chief of Staff and hope to be able to contribute immediately to your team and bring my knowledge of the company and abilities to bear on any project you see fit. I have your calendar set up and ready to go, I made sure that your morning remains light as you will be having a number of drop-by engagements as the new head of strategic planning and acquisitions. You will be having lunch with your boss, Mr. O’Hanlon, and the CEO Mr. O’Reilly followed by a one-on-one meeting with Mr. O’Reilly, to close out your day Mr. O’Reilly will introduce you to the entire executive team.

I have scheduled the next 30 minutes for us to cover the top 5 projects that fall into your purview – 3 strategic initiatives and 2 acquisitions. The rest of your week is set with meetings with your direct reports and key individuals on each of the 7 teams that roll up to you. I personally manage access to your schedule, coordination of all project proposals, alignment of all project updates as well as a team of 3 additional creative people that work with the 6 other teams to make sure anything and everything is done by your team is on brand and on point prior to delivery and 2 admins that manage all of our calendars and make sure you and I are available as needed.

I know I have thrown a lot at you; do you have any questions or need any assistance?”

Matteo smiled – “Several things come to mind – 1. Call me Matteo, I’m not hung up on formality. 2. May I call you Hudson? Thank you, I appreciate that. 3. Thank you for the run down, it helps with the lay of the land. 4. Will you make sure we have a team event on Thursday night scheduled – I would like to have light appetizers and an open bar, with 2 drink maximum somewhere close to the office. The rest of it we’ll figure it out as we go, I hope you find that I’m pretty relaxed when it comes to interactions within the team, now when we get to my boss and the board there needs to be more formality but I want to have a relaxed and creative environment. Finally – where is the dang coffee maker? I need some coffee; my mind doesn’t do well without that morning aroma.”

Hudson thought to herself – ‘This man could curl up in my bed and I would definitely have no issue with him eating crackers there either.’

Matteo thought to himself – ‘She is really hot but I wonder if she has a brother that is gay, it would be great to find a good-looking, smart, and motivated man to be with now that my career was underway, it was going to be hard enough to be gay and taken seriously. Oh well, I need to focus on my job for now, Dad wants to retire in 3 years so I need to get in and make a name for myself so the transition to CEO is a non-event.’

There was a knock at the door, Jennifer Kirby was leaning in to ask if Mr. De Luca had a few minutes for Julianne Nichols the company’s Chief Legal Counsel. Julianne was shown in as Hudson and Jennifer left the office. “Hey, how’s my favorite little brother doing? I will never understand why you are choosing to use Mother’s maiden name instead of owning who you are and taking on the company head-on.”

Matteo shook his head as he sighed – “My dearest sister, two reasons 1. De Luca is where the money comes from and 2. you know that me being bi-sexual leaning gay and only 24 years old would play a big part in the rumor/gossip mill here. I want to prove I deserve the shot at running this company and not just because I’m the CEO’s son or the General Counsel’s baby brother.”

Julianne kissed the top of her brother’s head – “MJ, you are the smartest person I know and you have been feeding dad ideas for the company since you were 18 and the last 2 acquisitions and 3 product ideas were ALL you. Why do you think Shea and I want to work here but not get in your way for the top job – you are the one that deserves the role and has the brain power to get the job done. I love you squirt, just let me know what I can do to help you out.”

Matteo thanked his oldest sister, then followed up on Shea and her current situation within HR. Julianne updated Matteo on her latest promotion to Sr. Director of HR technology and shared services. She was 27 and doing a great job with operations and technology and ultimately would become the CHRO when the time was right. She was in no hurry as she was dating a guy on Julianne’s team so there was bound to be drama at some point given Shea’s dating record. Julianne let Matteo know she was expecting his second niece or nephew in March of next year – he was excited and jumped up to hug her when there was another knock on the door.

In walked Shea – “Hey there watch the hugging, that could be an HR violation. Mr. De Luca, you should be careful given it is your first day here.” Matteo hugged Shea who was the wild child in the family but she was fiercely loyal to her siblings, it was a fool’s errand to do something negative to her siblings and come out the other side unscathed if Shea heard about it. “I hear you are dating someone in Julianne’s department, that’s ballsy sis.” Shea laughed loudly – “Well baby boy, my guess is when you see the talent, you will be fishing off the company dock as well, just keep your paws off Colton he is mine.” The siblings wrapped up their conversation as there was another knock on the door, it was Hudson looking for Matteo as his boss wanted to grab a coffee and catch up.

Matteo and Matthew (O’Hanlon) walked down to the cafeteria, which was located at the connecting point of 6 buildings. There were 5 other clusters that made up the corporate headquarters of the tech company Matteo’s dad had started nearly 25 years ago. Matteo remembered going to work with his dad when he was a little kid and that day, he realized his dad had done a huge thing and was responsible for the livelihoods of a great number of families in the area. Matteo was his father’s son in that he was just as brilliant if not more so, where his sisters took their fair skin, eyes, and general stature from their father he took the physical features (metabolism, height, skin, and hair color) from his mother, except the eyes – he stood 6’2” dark brown almost black hair, olive skin and the deepest green eyes you can imagine, they reminded everyone of emeralds. His sister often complained about Matteo – he can eat anything he wants; he only works out occasionally and still looks like a fitness model.

Matteo and Matthew sat off in a corner so they could talk without interruption. Matt was on the ground floor with Matteo’s father and was truly excited to have the future CEO in his department. He knew Matteo was something special and that he had been contributing from the sidelines for a number of years – two of the biggest acquisitions and the top three ideas for products came from Matteo in the last 36 months. His daughter had asked Matt to find out if Matteo was dating because she was interested in Matteo. Matteo let Matt know that he was definitely looking for his forever love but that love would most likely be a man, so even though he was flattered he didn’t think it would go anywhere. Matt chuckled and thought he would keep it to himself; Matteo got a little defensive and lit into Matt about having an issue with his sexuality.

Matt apologized, he thought his reaction was internal and not external. “Matteo, I don’t have a problem with you being gay, my chuckle was born out of Alicia’s interest in you and the fact that her younger brother Johan is gay and wouldn’t it be interesting if you actually got together with him instead of her.”

Matteo chuckled at that one – “I see your point. Honestly, it has been years since I have been around Johan or Alicia. I think the last time was at Alicia and my high school graduation party that you threw with my folks. I know that Johan and I are only a couple of days apart in age but I wound up graduating with Alicia because I jumped 1 grade in grade school and 1 grade in junior high. Do either of them work for the company?”

Matt smiled – “Yes, nepotism runs rampant here at De LORS Tech. As of today, the only one of you kids that isn’t employed full-time here is Charlotte – she just graduated and is taking the summer off after getting her degree in technology and digital graphics, she will join the company in September.  Alicia is in the Finance Department and Johan is working in Sales and Marketing. 

Maybe the best thing is to get a barbecue put together at our house this weekend.” Matt grabbed his cell, called his wife Anna and asked her to hold, called Jonathan. asked him to hold, and called Matteo’s mom Sofia and then connected all of them – “I’m sitting here with Matteo and we were talking about family, and the last time we had both families altogether would be about 6 years ago. I thought we could have a barbecue at the house, get the families together, and catch up.”

Everyone on the phone was in to get together but Anna did not want to host given her kitchen was completely gutted. Matt laughed as he knew that wasn’t the case but was ok given Sofia jumped in and agreed to host. While this was going on MJ sent a group text to Shea and Julianne – ‘I’m sorry’. Shea was the first to respond – ‘What did you do?’ before MJ could respond – Julianne dropped the bomb – ‘Barbecue and M & D’s on Saturday. Why did you do this?’ MJ chuckled as he typed and sent – ‘Matt and I are having coffee and evidently Alicia has the hots for me. We talked and my graduation party was the last time we were all together. He ran with it…’ Shea was not amused – ‘I’m stuck. I don’t have anything planned so had to say yes.’ Julianne replied – ‘Have a nice day. We have soccer with Jonathan.’ MJ replied quickly – ‘Bullshit, he is 2 years old. Either tell Mom you got the weekend wrong or I will tell her you are lying. Whom do you think she will believe?’ Julianne replied with a tongue-out emoji and ‘You are such a brat.’

Matt was watching Matteo send texts and was smiling when he looked up. “Did you get to all your siblings before the big request came in?” Matteo gave a half grin – “I tried but my mom is really fast, I only got to Shea first but both will be there with bells on and claws out. I will need to watch my back with those two.”

Matt nodded – “You will need to let Alicia down easy, she doesn’t know you bat for the other team.” Matteo smiled and shook his head – “Ok Dad. I have been quite good at batting from both sides of the plate but I know that I connect better with men than women. Typically, less drama and nonsense; maybe I’ll see her and be totally in love with her, doubtful but possible.”

The rest of the week was a whirlwind for Matteo. He was hoping to dig into projects and propose 2 new acquisitions that he knew were going to be winners but he was on a meet-and-greet tour. It was frustrating and he was in a foul mood Friday afternoon when he talked with his mom – “I’m bowing out of the barbecue. It has been a shitty week, sorry, bad week and I don’t want to be around people tomorrow.”

Sofia listened to her youngest vent and when he was done, she simply stated – “Piccola, I love you with all my heart and empathize with your week but you will suck it up and be here. Don’t start whining at me, you are a member of this family and the O’Hanlon’s have been long-time friends and godparents to you and your sisters. You are in the big boy world and bad weeks are part of the deal, you need to settle in properly before you try and take over the world. Your Father is retiring in just under 3 years, you have time to prove yourself and take over – this barbecue will tell us a lot about your ability to put a smile on that beautiful face when you are hating life. We’ll see you at 11 AM sharp.”

Before Matteo could protest, his mother disconnected the call. Matteo was frustrated with work, frustrated with his mother, frustrated with his love life, and his lack of sex. He walked to his bedroom, stripped, and took a long hot shower. Once he was done with that he put on shorts and workout shoes and then headed to his in-home gym. He worked out for a couple of hours. The exertion definitely took his mind off the week at work but he was still annoyed with his mother and his inability to get her to his point of view about attending the barbecue. He realized his frustration was due to the fact she rarely said no to him. He was definitely his mamma’s favorite child, she never confirmed but never denied it either.

Matteo headed back to his bathroom for another hot shower before hitting the sack. As he crawled into his king-sized bed alone and naked, he thought – I need someone in my life who can be a partner, not just a hook-up now and again. As he pulled the covers over his taught form, he was almost immediately asleep, it was something that he could always do – block out the crap from a day and sleep.

Matteo woke a little groggy but refreshed. He headed for his kitchen for a cup of coffee and a glass of water.  When he rounded the corner into his kitchen, he found his mother sitting at the counter drinking a cup of coffee. He didn’t bat an eye but kept on about his morning – “Piccolo, why are you naked? You could put on some clothes before you leave your bedroom.”

Matteo smiled his best smile – “Mama, I love you to death but this is my home and I live alone. I don’t expect to see someone in my home when I didn’t invite them here so my being naked is a regular occurrence. Thanks to great genes and a workout routine, I have a great body from top to bottom and back again. What can I do for you this bright and sunny Saturday morning?”

Sofia groaned – “First put some clothes on. Ok, be obstinate. Are you ok? I know this week was rough and I didn’t really listen to you last night when we talked.”

Since his mother came to make sure he was ok, he excused himself and came back in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. They discussed his week at work and how frustrated he was that everything had to be a meet and greet, why can’t we just get down to the business at hand? Matteo wanted to dissect the projects underway and dig in on the acquisitions he thought would be great additions to the company, he wanted to make a big impact.

His mother listened and asked questions at the right time, as she was leaving to make sure things were ready, she reminded her youngest that his impatience was just that impatience not a condemnation of his ability to exceed at the job. Her parting words were something that he took to heart – give it time, let things develop, and come to you in due course. Don’t force it, you will lose respect in the end. He kissed her cheek goodbye and let her know he would be there a little early to make sure she had the help to finalize things on her end.