Prologue

From the outside their image had been crafted to perfection. The marketing divisions had managed to strew the corporate logo across billboards, buses, trains, television commercials, sporting arenas, and professional athletes. Year after year millions were sunk into the sponsorship of events such as the Super Bowl, World Series, summer and winter Olympics, as well as the occasional Academy Award ceremony. It was world wide recognition that was sought through the spread of their logo. It was this symbol that had become greater than even the services and merchandise produced for an adoring public. The symbol had become the lifeblood of the company. It had replaced profit as the desired bottom line. For the company, the symbol was a means by which to live and die. To them their symbol was a life’s passion, a work of art.

Incorporated in 1954, the company had risen from a regional service provider into a media darling used as a bell-weather to forecast the direction of the American economy. The nineteen-sixties were witness to the companies’ expansion from its home state of Missouri into a national retail outlet. During the seventies the founding family members sold off their private holdings in a move which allowed for the company to become a publicly traded entity. The rise of competition forced to company to fend off various hostile takeover attempts during the latter half of the nineteen-eighties. With marketing saturation on the rise during the nineties the company touted its’ philanthropic achievements in an effort to establish a near love affair with the American public. It was this love affair that bore a persona which lured young idealists to their doorstep year after year with hopes of entering into its sky lit halls.

Every spring thousands found themselves standing nervously inside a large glass atrium waiting to be escorted through a maze of corridors which made up corporate headquarters. Each one dressed their finest could be seen feverishly reciting their life’s story, academic achievements, and any other embellishments deemed worthy of mention. Young men would pace the wood paneled lobby buttoning and unbuttoning their suit coats as they wavered between presentation. Women would sit still in black leather sofas fretting over their makeup and skirt length. All were sizing up their competition. It was widely known amongst perspective candidates that the corporate mantra was “perception is reality” and this meant that they must look the part, even though they might not live up to those expectations. But if one could pass through the rigorous selection process life behind the shroud of the company’s symbol brought the notion of security, achievement, wealth, and most of all happiness.