Page 188 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

He admitted he did not.
I said, ‘If you took the job we have on o≠er, the forecast for
the business you gave us during the interview process was
this. Based on those figures your stake is worth three times
your current options. And your current options are based on

the entire company [he was working for a public company]
performing, something which you’re not in control of. With the
equity I could o≠er you, you would be in control, because you’d

be the chief executive. If I was in your position, I’d want some-
thing that I could influence and I could control.
‘Now the sixty-four million dollar question for you, Gavin,
is this: how deliverable do you think your forecast is? Because
if you don’t believe in that, I would stay where you are. I would

totally agree with your decision. But if you do believe your
forecast is deliverable, then this is a no-brainer.’
He said, ‘I hadn’t looked at it that way. I think you make a

really good point. Would you mind if we had a co≠ee? Because
I would like to talk through that in some more detail.’
I got him back in again, we went through the numbers, he
accepted the position, joined and did amazingly well.
The key point was that I didn’t give up. I went back to ask

the question.

176 get the job you really want