How Second Chances Are Earned

I turned the corner, and then I heard the cheer of the media, my colleagues, and my mother. The scream blanketed over the whole room, and then it hit me. I am now the CEO of GreenGo, my dream is complete. I remember like it was yesterday. I was seventeen, and sad, depressed because my dad had just died, and then one day my mom exclaimed to me, 

“Joseph! Joseph, you got accepted, you got the internship at AquasWorld!”

 I was immediately given hope, hope because I was accepted for an internship at my dream company, AquasWorld. I then remember how I met my boss for the internship, my new role was the assistant for the vice president of a division. When the internship ends after two months, I am hired full time. With the money I’m making, I put myself through school and receive an undergraduate degree. Eight months later I became the vice president of my division. For the next three years, I was working as the vice president of my division, and reflecting on the success that I’ve had so early in my career.

One day, there was a massive presentation that I was presenting, and the presidents and vice presidents of each division were invited to. The CEO and chairman were also invited. The presentation was about how I thought AquasWorld could expand in our areas of business. The presentation was perfect. When the presentation ended, everyone was standing and applauding at my ideas. After everybody had left, I was cleaning up my stuff that I had brought for the meeting. I noticed that the CEO was still sitting there.

I asked him, “Is everything, okay sir?

He turned and said, “It is more than ok, that was an amazing presentation. You opened my eyes to what more we could do to become more successful. That was one of the greatest presentations I’ve ever seen, and for that, I’m making you the vice-chair of AquasWorld.”

I immediately responded by shaking his hand and saying, “Thank you, sir, thank you so much.”

“No need to give me thanks, thank you for opening my eyes, and thank you for giving ideas to help make us more successful.”

In the next week, the CEO once again reached out to me and told me that he is promoting me to the president of my division, this way he said, “You now make the money you deserve, and you have more power to accomplish what you showed all of us at the meeting last week.”

I went to his own office to than thank him personally. I’ll never forget that week of my life, it was the week that my lifelong dream officially began, to be an important figure in AquasWorld. The next year, 2047, I’m on the verge of going into poverty again. I’m close to poverty because my division is in the negative for profit and is causing the whole company to lose tons of profit.

“Have you seen this month’s financials? My boss said.

“No, I’m going to look at them now,” I said.

“No need to look at them, let me tell you.” He said.

“Every division is in the black, except one. You guess which one that is” He continued.

“Probably mine,” I said.

“Yeah, yours. If this trash of not even making the negative graph, and putting AquasWorld at a rate that would make us bankrupt or have to be bought out in three months, you’ll be the first person to walk out here with a cardboard box full of your stuff!” He said.

Then, he stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

My nervousness about my position grew over the next few weeks, rumors started to spread about possible buyouts, and the companies in the rumors were only going to keep very few divisions, and the rest they would ask AquasWorld to let go because the new parent company would not want to pay the severance for those employees. In the coming weeks, the growth of nervousness about my job grew substantially with hundreds of national and international companies showing much interest in AquasWorld. At this time, I was thinking that my dream was coming to an end. A few months later I was called into the office of the CEO, and I knew that it was going to be about my position, so I should start to pack up my stuff a little. So, I made a few piles on my desk of things to keep and things to toss. Then I went to the CEO’s office and saw one person whom I recognized, the CEO, and one person whom I didn’t recognize.

“Hi,” I said to both people in the room.

The CEO then said, “hey.”

The person I didn’t recognize didn’t say anything, and I was kind of getting more thoughts of, this is probably my replacement.

The CEO then says, “As you know, there have been many rumors about AquasWorld being bought out, and that’s actually why we’re here today.”

I nodded, and then he continued.

“This is going to be your new boss,” the CEO said.

“He is the CEO of GreenGo, located in Boston. He and his company are going to be the ones buying us out, and he would like to say a few words to you regarding your fit with the company.”

“Hi,” He said. “As your current boss just said, I’m the CEO of GreenGo in Boston, and I know you’re probably thinking that you’re going to be let go today because of last months predictions, but boss here showed me your presentation on your ideas of areas AquasWorld could expand on. That was the best presentation that I’ve ever seen, and that’s why I’m going to give you a second chance. We’re going to hire you, but not as the president of your current division, but a new one that will set you up for substantial success.”

I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that I was given this second chance. And, maybe I can accomplish my old dream and continue where I left off, and become an even more important person. The only difference is that it would have to be in GreenGo and not AquasWorld, but this is still kind of AquasWorld I realized except that AquasWorld is now just GreenGo. My new boss later told me that I would have to relocate myself to Boston, but I said that it was better than being let go. I told my mother, and we then decided that she should move with me to save her and me some money, and she was tired of where we currently lived, Chicago. When I relocated and started at GreenGo, I immediately knew that it was where I belonged. The company created similar products as AquasWorld, and Boston was a perfect change of scenery with so much to see. Within weeks, my new boss and CEO knew that him giving me a second chance was worth it, my new division skyrocketed into growth the company had never seen before. Those numbers continued for the next year, and that is what leads us back into 2049, and the blanketing cheer that covered the whole room. The CEO of GreenGo decided to retire and chose me to take the leading role of GreenGo because of how I can create astronomic growth in a company. When I took the lead role in GreenGo, that is when I learned the valuable lesson that good can come from every situation, and dreams can come true. That is also when I said to myself that my true goals are now complete, I’m an important figure in AquasWorld which turned into GreenGo and my family and mother are out of poverty.  Ever since that moment, we’ve never left Boston, and we never will.