Standard disclaimer ... any characters and plot references from the movies belong to Jim Henson.

Chapter 4

The next few weeks flew by and Sarah was surprised as she flipped the calendar to October. Mid-Terms would be here before she knew it but she was surprisingly comfortable with that. She was excelling at both her history and business courses and found that Professor McFadden's class was by far her favorite. Unfortunately, Becca had been wrong – Jareth was just not that easy to ignore.

Annoyed with the fact that everyone on Earth seemed to know about Jareth King except for her, Sarah caved and tried to get a little background on him. Becca was surprisingly helpful on that front, providing an entire box full of old articles – many from the tabloids – on various big names in business. After reading through many on Jareth, she quickly found that her already low opinion of the man had sunk to even new depths. As a teenager he had made a name for himself as a partier and a womanizer. Had she been even a few years older, she would have undoubtedly heard her peers swooning over him. But, he suddenly dropped off the radar around the time of his graduation from Princeton and her increased exposure to teenage gossip. She had to assume that his father finally became fed up with Jareth's antics being associated with King Industries. It certainly wasn't that he had changed his ways.

Sarah was disgusted by the shameless flirting that went on before every class. As soon as Jareth entered the room, every one of the female students swarmed around him, including those who she knew were in relationships. Today was no different.

Since the first class, spots in the front filled in quickly so she had made a habit of getting to class as early as possible. Jareth was lounging in the back of the room soaking up the shameless attention of the swarm around him. Shaking her head in disgust, she began to unpack her bag. She had just gotten her notebook out when she noticed that someone had taken the seat next to her. Turning, she was confronted with the mismatched eyes that always made her breath catch.

"Today should be interesting for you Williams," he purred sarcastically. "I think the topic will play to your expertise."

"So you concede that there is a place for history in business?" she challenged. By his dismissive chuckle, she knew she had won this round and allowed herself to enjoy the victory.

Professor McFadden entered the room promptly on the hour and immediately began the lesson, making a mental note of those that were not yet seated. "As you should have guessed from the reading, we are going to be discussing a manager's relationship with and responsibility to his subordinates. It is a topic that is often lumped together with basic management styles, but I believe that it is worth focusing on.

"I started with Globtex in a basic entry level position. While most of the employees my age were more concerned with happy hour and golf outings for the fun of the events, I participated for a very different reason. I looked at each event as an opportunity not only to network but to also observe my colleagues. I was able to recognize traits of both good and bad employees by simply observing. This allowed me to improve myself and know who my competition was. Later it helped me hire, train, and discipline my subordinates. I will share with you some of these traits and how to spot them."

Professor McFadden turned to the board and began listing various qualities. He spent the next half hour discussing the traits listed on the board. While Sarah saw the benefits in being able to recognize these qualities, she felt that this tactic was dehumanizing, and something about that did not sit right with her. Her face must have shown her displeasure because the professor called her out. "Do you disagree with this Miss Williams?"

"It is not that I disagree, Professor, I just don't think that it would be the method I would choose."

"Ah, and that is a perfect transition. Thank you." He turned and erased the board before continuing. "The reason there is an entire course on the subject is that there is no one set way to manage a business. I started with what worked for me as I am most familiar with it. However, let us discuss some alternative methods."

Sometime later, Sarah realized that class was almost over, and nothing had related to history. She let her mind wandered while she pondered what Jareth had meant at the beginning of class. When she focused on Professor McFadden again, she realized that she missed what the professor had just cursing herself, she made a very clear notation so she could discuss it with him during office hours. Returning her full attention to Professor McFadden, she realized that he had shifted to a new topic.

"We will end today with a style that I find very whimsical. However, there is merit to it. Many have described running a business like running a kingdom. I would like to hear what that means to some of you."

Sarah listened as many of the students offered suggestions. Several explained that running a business required your subordinates to listen to you unconditionally; that your decisions should be respected as commands and that your say was final. There was a truth to the statements, but Sarah had to shake her head in disgust. She thought she had been lost in the fairy tales. The kingdoms the other students were describing were those of lore. The reality of a monarchy was quite different.

Unfortunately, Jareth was the first to catch her show of disagreement and was quick to voice, "It appears that Miss Williams does not agree."

Glaring at him, she simply began, "Many of the suggestions are true. A kingdom's subjects must obey their king in order for the kingdom to run smoothly. They must also abide by his judgment as his word is law. However, there is a lot that is missing from that. What everyone is describing is essentially a dictatorship, not a monarchy. In a monarchy, a king must respect his subjects as much as he expects them to respect him. Without the mutual respect, the kingdom would fail."

The professor gave a small smile. "Would you care to elaborate how that would apply in the business world?"

"A king needs to understand that his subjects are his kingdom. Without them, he would have nothing. Every decision that is made needs to be made for the good of the kingdom, not the good of the king. Of course there are examples of the opposite throughout history, but they all had consequences. In terms of a business, both large and small, management has to be aware that it is the employees that will make or break the business. Respecting that fact and acting to support, encourage, and protect the workforce is one of the best ways to make a business grow. Even the lowest level employee plays a role in the success of the business."

"A valid point and an important one, Miss Williams," Professor McFadden agreed. "Please elaborate."

"To expand on the kingdom metaphor, your CEO is the King, executive management his court, and for simplicity purposes, the remaining are the serfs. The basic running of the kingdom is performed everyday by the serfs. The kingdom's resources are procured through their effort. The nobles oversee this production, making sure that everything is functioning effectively. Finally, the King is responsible for the distribution of these resources. It would be easy to sell and trade everything to increase his personal wealth. However, if he did this, there would be no reason for the serfs to continue their efforts. The king must understand that his serfs are as important, if not more so, than the kingdom's wealth or power. In the business world this means that a CEO's primary concern shouldn't necessarily be the bottom line. A CEO should always consider his employees, because without them there would be no bottom line."

"One could argue that employees are replaceable, there are always people looking for jobs," came Jareth's annoyingly charming voice.

"If you take that position, you are setting yourself up for failure. There is a limited workforce of qualified employees. Even with those, you are losing productivity and money in training them on your company's systems and policies. Not to mention, the most qualified employees will look elsewhere if they know you are offering a hostile or unstable work environment. Honestly, it is simple business that a high turnover rate is never a good thing."

She turned to glare at him in triumph only to find him smiling at her, and she felt like a fool. He had made the comment only to illustrate the point, not because he believed it. She felt her face flush and immediately turned away, angry that she had even acknowledged him.

"Thank you Miss Williams," Professor McFadden stated before lecturing on further examples of the king and kingdom mindset. By the time the class had concluded, Sarah recognized that this was her favorite class to date. She was in the middle of writing the week's assignment when there was a tap on her desk. Looking up, she found the professor looking down at her. "That was excellent insight today, Miss Williams. You have an excellent head for business. I hope you will consider pursuing it more seriously."

Too stunned to say anything, Sarah watched as he exited the room. Brian McFadden never complimented his students so openly. She was so completely lost in her own thoughts that she did not notice the pair of mismatched eyes watching as she exited the room or the bewildered expression on their owner's face.