Think Like A Man – Chapter 4
By
Julie D Cole

Strange but over the next few days I was frequently called to the Directors office ‘ for a short chat’ with him. I was encouraged to give my opinions on a lot of things affecting the Financial market and my views about our key clients and our overall business strategy. He said he wanted some fresh ideas instead of listening to people who just agreed with him and I had impressed him and he had noticed I had been assisting Carly. He wanted to know just how keen I was to take extra responsibilities. I must have answered correctly.

From that point on I felt I could speak out and I challenged some of the decisions that had been made. The more times I met him the more I realized he wasn’t so bad after all. He said he’d like to introduce me to some more important clients who might prefer to work with a woman who could think like a man and he would help me and mentor me if I was committed to the Company and was not focused on wedlock and babies and the like.

A bit sexist but then I could understand the problem he had. He was quite open. After a while I found myself nodding and before I knew it we were shaking hands on a change in my role. I’d got a 30% raise and a new job title as Non Executive Director and Key Client Relationship Manager. A bit of a mouthful but for now that didn’t bother me. I had been noticed after my change in approach. Maybe I could work with this man and show the other managers the best man for the job really is a woman.

So Mr Wagner, this Director who was also one of the main shareholders, soon had a new contract arranged and I was to be appointed to the Group Board. He formally announced this at the Friday management meeting after insisting that I sat alongside him. Carly was at the other end of the table and he just stared at me and shook his head. It was a job he’d have liked and the promotion he was looking for and I’d beaten him to it.

He looked down hearted and I just thought it served him right. He should focus on his job and not be ruled by the thing between his legs. Maybe this is why women have the edge these days.

I had to hang back after the meeting to receive congratulations from the other Non Executive Directors and they had all agreed with the decision. Wagner ensured his decision was blessed by all of them before he confirmed. It took a while for the meeting to break up and as I left the Board Room Carly was still hanging around by the lift.

He surprised me by shaking my hand and saying he was sorry that he hadn’t listened to me more in the past and how he thought I’d grown more confident. It wasn’t like I was his boss or anything even after the promotion but I was several grades higher already by now. I could sense some envy in his voice and I wasn’t sure if it would affect our relationship or not. I did rather fancy the idea of him feeling inferior.

Whatever he felt it obviously didn’t stop his advances and he was intent on developing our relationship. We had drinks after work to celebrate and he asked me if I was still available if he cooked dinner. I accepted for the following night provided he took the rest of the day off to visit the Spa to prepare himself properly in case anything happened between us and I encouraged him to get rid of his body hair that I didn’t like.

He was on the phone immediately and just had enough time to promise to call me. I smiled since he’d forgotten he was wearing new underwear and tights. Maybe he’d gotten used to the nice feeling. He was looking much different too and was using a man-bag rather than stuffing things into his pockets and I’d complemented him on his new black business suit that was nicely tailored and very snug. It was clear he’d tucked himself well in.

I called him to ask if he’d forgotten what he was wearing and he thought about it before deciding to press on. I suggested he called for a hair appointment after his treatment and I made a reservation and suggested a style to Mandy who looked after me. She was keen to help and I promised to take her to dinner the following week on her day off. I’d often fancied her and she used to flirt a lot and knew I was interested when she asked me to meet her sometime and have a girly night.

Mr Wagner called by my office and said he’d had a thought and he wanted to introduce me to someone he’d been trying to attract as a client who might prefer to deal with a female advisor but he had difficulty persuading him because his wife was a strong influence. I agreed to help and he left my office.

He rang me 15 minutes later and said he’d arranged for me to attend a Group Seminar in London and then join him at the next Shareholders meeting when he hoped we could present some sensational news. This was on the basis I’d snare the new client and he said I had no choice but to clinch a deal. The Seminar was to be followed by a relaxing weekend with several events lined up and a dinner with a Guest Speaker who was a Sporting Celebrity. I suspected this would be the target.

I didn’t hear anymore apart from his secretary reminding me to bring my spouse or partner along. I told her I was dating Carly and I’d bring him along. She fancied him a lot and just said ‘Mmmm..nice one girl.’

I had a lot of calls to make that afternoon but I did find out the Sporting Celebrity would be some ex International Footballer by the name of Dale Peckham. He played soccer for England and Manchester United and they’d paid him a lot of money to play and he now had a lot of wealth. He’d made a bomb out of personal appearances and supporting male underwear and aftershave. He was quite pretty for a guy.

I was told my partner and I would be joining my Director and his wife and we’d be entertaining Mr . Peckham and his wife for a private lunch or afternoon tea that still needed to be confirmed once Mr Peckham consulted his wife. She was very busy and more difficult to pin down than him. I checked her profile on the internet and she seemed a bit aloof and full of herself.

I checked and found out as much information as I could about Dale Peckham . I’d seen him in lots of advertisements for products he represented. He looked good in underwearon the large posters and had quite a lunchpack. I smiled as I thought of Carly and his little snackbox in my underwear.

Peckham had done very well for himself because he had become a fashion icon as well as a football star and young women loved him. He was just a local schoolboy from the outskirts of London when he was spotted by a scout and he was developed into a star. As he became famous he’d this girl who he later married. She had made it clear from their first date that she was his and he never had a chance. They were married in no time. She definitely wore the trousers.

It was not easy to see what he saw in her but then I realized women have many ways to snare men even though I had little success so far. Maybe I’d just never found the sort of man I wanted but hopefully I could develop Carly and so I research Vicky Peckham a bit more to try to understand her technique.

She was a strong character even though she was very delicate and surely I was better looking. It seemed like Dale was now playing the role of mother to their children whilst she was a successful fashion designer and business woman. With 3 children he obviously could perform but who is to say what roles they play. I wanted to be successful like her and since Carly wasn’t as good as I first thought now I feel it would work better if he supported me than the other way around. Still marriage and children were not priority right now for either of us.

I saw Peckhams wife had been in a girl group as the decoration rather than for her voice but it looked like she was the brains out of all of them that resulted in a lot of success. They’d split up as a very rich group of girls and each went their own way. She had the marriage and was most successful. I wanted to meet her to see if I could get some ideas how she took control of Dale. He looked like he might need guidance and some more feminine attention.

I wondered how she might react to Carly. I couldn’t see her liking his macho style so I needed to step up the treatment. I doubted she’d be interested in women but maybe she obviously liked feminine men.

The more I researched the more I was convinced she surrounded herself with men who did as she bid and there didn’t seem much risk of Dale trying it on with me but I might just be able to manipulate him like she did if I could distract her.

They were both Londoners but now they spent a lot of time in USA in Los Angeles. They liked to be seen that was all part of her plan to project herself like a film star. But she was nothing compared to the film stars she liked to be seen with and no way was I going to get to Los Angeles if I missed this chance to snare them. I needed to talk with Carly.

I found him in the hair salon. Mandy had done a great job on him and he was yet to see himself. He’d dozed off to sleep and she whispered to me to look at his face. She’d trimmed and shaped his eyebrows and they were lighter in color to match the streaks she’d put in his hair. With the cape around him it was hard to say if this was a woman or a man in the salon.

Carly was speechless when he saw himself but we managed to persuade him this was a great look for men. Mandy stopped short of a full facial but offered him a discount if he wanted to try one the following week. He didn’t say much until we left the salon and then he tried to ruffle his hair to look more masculine. I took him for a coffee to calm him down and started to talk about Dale Peckham and how he carried a feminine look and could take his pick of any women he wanted. With permission of Vicky of course.

I told him the plans and that they were my target. I had to decide how to win them over and I had a week to prepare. I needed his help and advice so I’d decided to leave early and meet up with him at the Spa. I wanted to know what he knew about this possible client since he was a big football fan. He didn’t look like one though when I arrived at the Spa. He was having a pedicure when I tracked him down and looked a picture in his bathrobe with a towel wrapped around his head. He’d been waxed and pampered and he had had some hair treatment already with Mandy. She hadn’t hung around.

He was so busy admiring himself that I couldn’t get his mind to divert to football until I told him I wanted him to join me at the Seminar and social weekend at it meant he would meet Peckham and his wife. That was it. He was absolutely gob-smacked. When his senses came back he babbled on for ages ignoring his coffee and the hot toasted scone I’d bought him.

I wished I had a tape recorder and was surprised at how much he knew about them. He explained about their background and the relationship and how they had been very astute to capitalize on their image with young football and music fans and were hanging onto their youthful images as long as they could. They were worth millions and even had a private jet. If I could catch them as our clients I’d be able to travel to USA and wherever else they travelled and lived. They seemed to have homes in several parts of the world. Vicky had done wonders for him.

She obviously wore the trousers yet he could have taken his pick of any girl he liked. He seemed to prefer a strong woman. Aren’t we always the stronger sex? I looked at Carly and already I’d surpassed him at work as well as out smarting him and my next task was to use his boyish looks and maybe enjoy myself at the same time.

Carly was still admiring himself. The smart suit could easily have been from the womens’ rail and I might try that out as a next step to the underwear. He’d avoided any embarrassment by changing in a cubicle in the men’s room when he arrived at the Spa. Now he was more likely to get strange looks in the mens room than in the girls room. Best of all he was obviously enjoying it.

As we finished the last pieces of scone I asked him if he wanted to call by my home and we could spend the evening together. He didn’t need asking twice. I wanted to try some things out on him and to make a plan how to coax him to make friends with Vicky Peckham.