I stood at the edge of the sprawling asphalt lot, squinting against the harsh morning sun that glinted off the windshields of a dozen delivery vans. According to my initial survey, the workforce here at Longroad Logistics numbered between twenty and thirty people. Most were the muscle—the drivers and loaders whose backs bore the weight of the city's commerce—but there was also a small, specialized contingent housed in the brick-and-iron office building. These were the ones who juggled the ledgers, handled the complex routing, and managed the back-office grind that kept the trucks moving.
When Jennifer Arnoyd stood before them and formally announced that I, Sean Barnes, would be the new General Manager of the entire operation, the reaction was a fascinating study in human nature. Most of t
