"Well?"

"M-i-r-a-n-d-a, I have the looks for you. Jeffy is just wheeling them in."

"Charla, while Serena makes up her mind, book me a table at the place I like. Then call Mr Tomlinson and tell him if he wants to make the appointment, he can do himself. Then schedule a call with Briget sometime day. And make sure my Chanel dress is pressed for tonight's pah-ty. I'm not interested in meeting these other editors-in-chief for longer than fifteen minutes before having an actual dinner at the place I like. That's all."

"... yes, Miranda."

"Serena. Are we waiting for you or for Jeffy?"

"S-o-r-r-y, Miranda. These are the looks I think - I know - will suit best. This is a pleated skirt with trim, a halter top with jewels, and the heel on these Jimmy's is quite fetching. I've had Jeffy go through the Closet and give back the jacket he's hoarding. This will look quite good. Also, the colours work."

"And what is this, Serena?"

"I-t-'s a tan skirt set with white blouse, I played it up with some black accessories. It's neutral but it looks close enough to what Kate Middleton wears to be casual."

"And you think our readers will enjoy this?"

"It's a wide range of looks, and I believe - "

"Serena. That's all . Charla, do you have Briget?"

"I have her on hold, Miranda."

"... connect me. Briget? Ah! You see, my assistants have some competence. I hope I haven't kept you waiting long. Close my doors!"

"Oh, it's fine, Miranda. It is quite a bit busy here - but you know, it's a task delegating. I just don't know how to let things go. Granted, I need them done, and I just don't have the time, but I don't have the time either to train them! They only have a couple words from me and I'm to entrust them on an entire shoot, aside from the specifics? It's - it's such stress. And with the money being spent… "

"Briget. That is necessary. Delegation is so people can uhn-der-stand. They will never learn if you hold their hand. That is why I put my girls through the hoops. They must learn to think for themselves. They do not know how it was for us , Briget - you were working at French Runway when I just started, and then that awful Jacqueline followed suit when Chic began to decline. Briget, we had to carve it out for ourselves. I learned that at Chic ! I saw they were not doing it right, and so I barreled ahead, and the nonsense editor-in-chief breathed down my neck, and so now she calls me her protege. I hope she rots in whatever graveyard her cheap hospital suite sends her to.

"Briget, when I joined Runway , they were fledgling. There was a general understanding of what could be done, to get it up to par alongside other companies. But then why grow it? Where is the market share? And in Paris, I can tell you, Briget, I did not care for the culture. The way business is done. Even as I made French Runway successful, it was on their terms. They just would not budge. And as the States grew US Runway under my predecessor, who in fact was trying to maintain it the way other publications of the same type had, the States valued a cut throat, commercial attitude. Cut and slash, high profits, low expenditures. Of course, I did not bring in that last. I still believe that high expenditures for a larger rolling profit works if giving the leniency to do so. Irv delegates that decision-making to me, because it made profits at French Runway, but like any businessman, they like to think they can do that and reduce expenditures further just to make things look good. That is uhn-acceptable, Briget, for then you are being set up to fail. You must be given that discretion, or you will blamed anyway for them having not given you room to act. And you will fail, Briget. You must stand up to Irv - or any CEO - as I do, or fail.

"I tell all this to you because I want Runway to suceed. I cannot tell any of the editors-in-chief under Elias-Clark's banner this, because they will not understand the way you do. You know what is required, how I kept Runway at the top over there, you just lack the focus and time. But you can do it. You are me, without the flair - ha-ha - but if the seed is there, it is that seed which is most valuable. Sadly, I cannot find that seed anywhere else. I have never come upon it. Perhaps once otherwise, but she walked out. Let me be frank, Briget. You must only help those who help themselves. But for your career, you and you alone are responsible for everything . If you waste time mentoring the weak, you will be lost. But in delegation, you must mentor all of them, and if they are all bad seeds, then you will lose anyway."

"Miranda, that is insightful, truly. I did not know. And how you managed to keep all the staff going… there was always a lot of turnover."

"You must turnover, no matter the public outcry or loss, no matter the drop in morale to other , probably good staff, because dead weight needs to be cut. I am not running a kindergarten. If I had stayed in London, my life would be miserable indeed. If I had remained at Chic in Paris and obeyed their rules, I would be a middling peasant married to some nonsense French banker. There was more , Briget, I had the drive, I had the nous, and the position would always elude me. Even now, as editorial director, sink or swim, I am in that stratosphere of always failing , as any US President can be criticised for the things not being done. Irv delegates to me , and I am now above what profits or expenditures , but they are just as key. It comes into it now that there is so much risk, that public opinion will soon weight against me, against Runway , against fashion journalism. You see the trends. We cannot keep up. But the times changing cannot mean we stop.

"You see, Briget, I will keep going. I am, by now, confident I can keep going. That is all I have done. I am not concerned with if I fail. Failure is a part of life. To uphold the standard of not trying to fail merely balances the chance of success, but failure will happen, and you must learn and move on. Fashion moves on. And now I come to my point."

"Miranda, I have an urgent appointment I'm late for, but I'd be happy to discuss more at a later time… "

"Of course. I will say this. I am aware you are looking for a fashion editor."

"Yes, but I'm afraid the girls I've interviewed don't quite make the fit… they could only keep plugging the holes than boarding them up."

"I will say this, Briget. I could use a good fashion editor. I have tried with this nonsense girl at my staff, her name is Serene , and she comes to me with some awful clothing looking to imitate Kate Middleton. As though we are Vogue . What is she thinking? I can tell you, Briget, if we do not speak for in both our careers we are far too busy, do not waste your time mentoring morons. I will leave you to your meeting. That's all. Charla! Open my doors."

"I'm here, Miranda."

"Have you done all that I have asked, Charla?"

"Yes, Miranda. I've booked a table at Town, a table in the back so you will have some privacy, and I've sent your Chanel dress to be pressed. I've told them to be careful since it's - well, a lot of money, tens of thousands - "

"Thank you for that never ending narrative, Charla."

"Also, Miranda - "

"Yes?"

"Mr Ravitz called. He would like to see you."

"... then I'd better go. Make sure my driver knows I will be ready to leave after. Why I must meet these nonsense editors-in-chief is beyond me. It would simply do if they would deliver , not celebrate . The results speak for themselves. Nigel?"

"Ah, Miranda. You've just caught me as I was going out."

"Somewhere useful, I hope."

"Well, Miranda, it's a new designer - "

"I have very little interest , Nigel - I find I have very little interest in the details of your personal life, wouldn't you agree, Charla?"

"Uh - "

"... thank god I have the elevator alone. That silly blonde who entered with me certainly got the wrong end of the stick and with good reason. I hope she got fired from Ralph Lauren. What on earth can Irv want? The publications continue to make the profits they always have, they'll be resistant to any change, and any change I effect will drop their morale. It is a holding pattern, which Irv must see, and which only my star power can smoke-screen. It is gradual , as I have told him, but I am not in this merely to cash out. Jacqueline would. She has been leap-frogging like a moron from the lilypads I gild and thinks she can do what I do. It is only because of me she can. If not for me, she would have remained at Chic far longer, likely not joined French Runway at all for it would not be what it was when I started manuevering the right growth, and she would be married to some nonsense banker. Her mother has some sense at least. She told me what I wanted to hear from my own mother - who was an idiot to die from me . She told me I was ambitious. She was wrong. I was not ambitious soon enough . Ah! At last. Is Irv in?"

"... I'll just buzz you in. Mr Ravitz?"

"Ah, Miranda! Please, please come, sit down."

"Ha-ha. Thank you, Irv. Your office is a marvel."

"Is it? I'm afraid my wife decorated, which means there's very little I can touch or sit on without breaking the history behind it."

"Ha-ha."

" So , Miranda. Our favourite editor-in-chief. Our editorial director! How are you finding your feet?"

"Let me be, as the print media calls me, blunt, Irv."

"Of course! You know me. Blunt as a businessman. Ha-ha. Please, continue."

"The profits, as they are, will not take effect yet . The expenditures, even with my sway, must remain . The chain of command is indirect from me , that a slash-and-burn by me can only be met with more resistance if I did it at Runway . The simple fact is, it is a holding pattern, Irv. It is a smokescreen. What I am trying to accomplish as editorial director is gradual ."

"Well, I appreciate the honesty, Miranda. I have always, from you, expected honesty and I relish it."

"Thank you."

"I will tell you, if you will permit me, a man to a woman, to be blunt in this day and age - ha-ha - is that my board is concerned. There are market factors which are increasing demand, and suppliers cannot pay more than minimum wage. There is the issue of logistics, getting the product to and from. We can show in our magazines what our customers should buy, but if they cannot buy, they cannot yet complete the circle of yearning for another! And there is our audience. You must know more and more that we are going digital. The content offered is not enough. Demand is so high when digital, that it saturates and we cannot keep up. The quality reduces."

"I could not agree more, Irv."

"Some would think I don't know these things, Miranda, but I do not merely show up to work to sit behind a desk and tell the board that things are slightly less up or down than before, and the trends. I must know what is going on. I am responsible for Elias-Clark's publications, and I am not an editor-in-chief. I must manage. I must set down to you, and all the editors-in-chiefs of the publications what I expect. I must suggest , and in times of crisis or uncertainty, order or act , but I do not have the fullest capacity towards that skill expertise of fashion or journalism. But I must know what effects certain decisions will make. As you will know, at the highest level of management, an order does not simply just cut through the fat. It is a many-wheeled precarious wooden frame and that is when siloing can happen and you can hear nothing but the echo on the pond's surface and never pry too deep.

"And at the highest level, as you will of course know, the allocation of resources is essential because time is an ever weighing factor. It is the same in military battle, as is my hobby - don't tell my wife, ha-ha, she hates I spend my time painting war figurines! - as I was saying, it is the same in battle, Miranda. Your troops there , are not here . And it will take them days to return. The opportunity cost is so great that very few, in escaping the immediate effects, and we are all surrounded by the fog of war, can not know how many years down the road such an action must cost them so dearly that no recovery can be made."

"I uhn-der-stand completely, Irv. As was your intention when you hired me, that I will not back down."

"I have seen it, Miranda. And what's more, I do understand that the profits and expenditures will not immediately move. But a greater shift for the digital age requires such change that we may not meet it. My placing you in this position allows me to ask, do you think you are ready?"

"Such a question, Irv, unanticipated by me, would be a folly that would show all of my errors. Digital will reduce what we have at Runway , at publications anywhere including Elias-Clark. The state of play has changed. Yet I intend to barrel on."

"Even as the organisational change must be significant? And not in slashing and burning, Miranda. There is public outcry for employee welfare, for representation, and tighter laws on how employees must be channeled through their departure and how much they must be paid. For corporations, especially depending on the political policy, this will change Elias-Clark. We, and other companies that we are in competition with, who we are battling over market share for, will decline to the rate of what Runway was when it started, with more or less the same expenditures. And demand will only grow to outstrip supply. Can we meet that? And Miranda - I am a businessman. I cannot ask you this, expecting a reply that we will see how we go . Your turn."

"Your trust in me, Irv, and additionally my performance, must now reach a peak. It is apparent upon me, that results , and even promises for the future, cannot be enough."

"That is all I am saying, Miranda. It is Elias-Clark which must fold within itself to find the flaws. That includes Runway , Miranda. That includes myself, as my wife likes to lecture me about retirement and my thinning hair. That includes you , Miranda. Can you adapt to these times, not as a businesswoman alone, but for what you are known for?"

" That , Irv, would be why you might replace me with Jacqueline. She would do what is asked. I produce - when others will fold in too much to public opinion. If the publications must look within themselves like some nonsense therapy, they will cower and bend to every slight. Digital, to me, seems to connect the morons of the world with a united voice that makes everyone equal. Everyone is not equal, Irv. While other editors-in-chief will gladly spend their profits on employee welfare, I will not. If all publications under Elias-Clark must reduce in profits over the next couple years, Runway's profit will reduce less by comparison, and not for non compliance, but to roll growth. The less investment, the less ability to roll, and then there is no point having a magazine ever and you should discard. But I will add my voice, and my strength, in those other publications doing what I have been doing at Runway. I will mentor them. And if their editors-in-chief will not bend, then I will replace them."

"Miranda - the times cannot be changed. Public opinion - customers - they must be who we serve."

"Irv, I am leaving, I am leaving because I must make my dinner. I find I cannot celebrate my role because I am too busy actually doing the job. I will tell you, when I joined French Runway , I was told what not to do. I did it, and then some, and I was ten years in the job. I came to the States, and for six years, I was free to be commercial, and then some. And you see at both publications how we have soared. Public opinion - customers - think they know what they want. You are only hearing from them now , and louder, because they have the digital means. The times have allowed them to become a wave onto us all. But if you resist, and if you keep going against it, you will be a cliff not worn down by their perpetual whining. We will come out on top. Has French and US Runway not soared because of the rolling investment? Against the tide of what should be done? Because, Irv, they are just the collective of the same people telling us what not to do which we have proven them wrong, or they are new, young people, who think they can dictate what we should do, while expecting more of the same. That is youth and inexperience, Irv, and in their greater numbers, does it not make them any more right. Tune out their voices, Irv. It is me you have hired, and me who will oversee Elias Clark's publications. You shall see, Irv. When you go to your next board meeting, it is Runway who will continue to flourish. I will not cut expenditures for public opinion, Irv. Not even at a greater, temporary profit which will long-term reduce. Never. That's all, Irv."