by Alan Townendadvantages he could get from his new situation. There was no point,
he thought to himself, in taking it out on Henderson. After all
Henderson couldn't help being crass, insensitive and thoughtless but
on the other hand other people could be prevented from behaving in
the same way. Within the space of about six months his time was
completely taken up with making preparations for setting up a new
agency. Out of sheer perverseness he decided to call his new
company the Henderson Agency so that he would always be clear in
his mind what his aims were and what task he had taken on. The
agency was set up to offer advice to employers on good
management. He took out a loan from his local bank to refurbish an
office, worked out a detailed business plan, which the bank manager
was quite taken with, advertised for some staff and took on two of
the fifty that applied and set up his business. Within three years he
had taken on another ten staff and taken over a local agency that
had failed to make a profit. Many people in the area originally took
him for a bit of a confidence trickster but they soon found out that he
was very effective and successful and it wasn't long before they took
back all their critical remarks. Charlie suspected that Henderson had
been at the bottom of these allegations. Nevertheless he still
continued to take in a large amount of business and was able to set
up other agencies in two neighbouring towns.
After five years to the day Charlie found he was earning far more
money now than if he had stayed with his old company. He soon
began to realize that he was very wealthy even when you had taken
the tax away from his earnings. At the same time he didn't take on
airs, he remained the same person who had lost his job five years
ago. In fact in those days he would be the one who made others
laugh by taking off the boss. Now he was one of the bosses himself.
The following day he had a chance to show what kind of employer he
was. Sitting in front of him was his old boss, Henderson, who had
also been redundant and had taken upon himself to apply for a job
with Charlie. As Henderson assured him he would be prepared to
undertake any type of work. Charlie had this irrestible feeling that he
would like to take Henderson down but he resisted. Then as he took
down Henderson's details, he had a brilliant idea and asked
Henderson whether he would like to take on a role in a training video
he was making. Henderson took to the idea immediately and agreed
to do it. Charlie took out a video they had already made from the
shelf behind him and showed Henderson the title: «How to manage
people.» Then, making sure Henderson was taking everything in, he
leaned across his desk and said: «Now the one I would like you to be
in will be called: HOW NOT TO MANAGE PEOPLE.»
Vocabulary Explanations
he didn't take to the idea
he didn't like the idea
taken over from his previous boss
acquired the job from his previous boss