Ben did speak with Charlie. He called him into his office and closed his door, so they could speak privately and he congratulated him on his wonderful achievement. He made him relive the success by working through every minute detail of the deal. Being the junior executive on the job, Charlie had used the well-tried and tested formula of negotiating while not having any authority to bind his principal. By this methodology, he had been able to take the negotiations right to the edge and extract the best possible deal without giving up any significant ground from the bank's optimum position. Charlie was glowing with pride, relating the different stages of the process. While he was distracted by the elations of his story-telling, Ben hit him with a series of short, direct questions. Nothing u
