Windsor Greetings - Chapter 8: Succession
Jan Windsor calls an owners meeting to determine a path forward for the business.
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Previously On Windsor Greetings
Following a catastrophic stroke, the family mourns Uncle Tom’s death and learn that his remaining shares have been left to Alex’s mother, Jan.
Table of Contents
Chapter 8: Succession
Chapter 8: Succession
In the days following Uncle Tom’s passing and leading up to his funeral, the tension in the Windsor household was palpable. Tyler and Alex weren’t speaking. Henry was grappling with both the loss of his brother and a deep sense of—if not betrayal, then certainly confusion—over why Tom had left his shares to Jan rather than him. To complicate matters, Jan had made it abundantly clear that she had no intention of relinquishing her newfound authority in the family business to anyone.
For years, Jan had supported her husband and the family in matters outside the company, but she had also served as a confidant to senior leaders when Henry’s stubbornness became a barrier. She never once held an official title at Windsor Greetings, but in many ways, she understood the business's operations better than almost anyone. Her distance from the day-to-day and her deep understanding of the organization's inner workings offered her a unique ability to approach business matters unemotionally. Over the years, she’d developed a way of communicating with Henry that no one else could replicate, and he’d grown to trust her opinion in business matters.
The tension wouldn’t linger for long, though. Jan had called an owners' meeting to chart a path forward for Windsor Greetings—and the Windsor family. Despite holding only a minority stake in the business, the balance of power hinged on her decision.
The meeting took place at Windsor headquarters in the main boardroom. Adorning the walls were framed artifacts that told much of the history of the company: framed cards from their first print run, a ribbon-cutting photo from their first office, the Windsor brothers smiling broadly at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new building, and countless articles from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It was like a museum installation and a reminder of the business's impact on the community and what it meant to the family.
Jan called the meeting to order, “I’ve asked you all here today because we face an inflection point as a business and a family.” Henry attempted to chime in, but Jan cut him off immediately. “I’m nowhere near finished,” Jan said. All three men sat back in their chairs. This wasn’t to be a discussion. They were here to listen.
Jan continued, “Windsor Greetings has stood as a pillar of this community for decades and has served as a leader in the greeting card industry for almost as long. While we aren’t the biggest greeting card company, our customer retention rate is unmatched. 95% of our customers are repeat buyers, and do you know why that is?”
All three men remained silent, sensing the rhetorical nature of the question.
Jan narrowed her attention to Tyler and Alex. “It’s because of the values instilled into this company by your father and uncles since its founding. A Windsor Greeting isn’t just a folded piece of cardstock. It’s a vehicle of sentiment—a tangible expression of one’s deepest feelings. Our customers sense that, and it’s why they buy our cards over any others.”
A smile crept at the corner of Henry’s lips. He sometimes lost sight of all that he’d accomplished.
“You know what doesn’t speak to those values?” Jan asked again rhetorically. “Going behind everyone’s back, working in secrecy, and scheming.”
Both Tyler and Alex responded, pleading with some version of, “there was no other choice. It had to be done.”
Jan received their justifications and replied, “It might be true that difficult decisions have to be made. We may even need to close our doors forever, but I’ve realized where we’ve gone astray.” Jan let the room fall silent, commanding their attention. Henry, Tyler, and Alex all waited to hear her realization. “We stopped working together.”
“What made this business great,” she added, “is the teamwork, sense of family, and unity with which your father and his brothers worked.” Henry, by now, was smiling with pride, but that wouldn’t last long. Jan turned to Henry and issued a harsh dose of reality. “Since Ronald’s passing, that magic has diminished. Your creative genius and big picture thinking made Windsor Greetings what it is, but it was Ronald’s business acumen and Thomas’s optimism and operational leadership that were equally important to the success of this business. These are traits that you simply lack, and our financial statements are proof of it.” The smile on his face slipped away. Not just because of the harsh words she spoke, but because, deep down, Henry knew she was right. He hadn’t been a good steward of the business since Tom’s retirement and his older brother’s passing.
“There’s only one way forward,” Jan said, “and that’s together.”
Jan paused again to let the moment sink in. “My decision regarding the future of this company is this: I won’t give my vote to either you, Alex, or you, Tyler. Instead, you two will have to work together to save this business.”
As only a minority shareholder, Jan lacked the legal authority to enforce this decision, but as the matriarch of the Windsor family, that was all the authority she needed.
Stay Tuned
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Until then,
-Mike
I continue to enjoy the suspense building. With only 2 Chapters remaining, I anticipate yet another twist before the last Chapter is penned. I hope you consider continuing writing in the “novella genre” (is that a thing yet?) and ultimately decide to publish your works as a collection together on line, (or being very old school) in an actual book format that you can sit and read and actually turn the pages, just sayin’….!