The next day, Jason began preparing the material he was going to review with Frank and Jill during the remainder of the week. They had a work session scheduled for tomorrow.

After yesterday's meeting on the cost of capital had ended, Jonathan had asked Jack if Jill was going to be involved in the initial Economic Profit ( EP) assessments. Jack knew what the response had to be, so he called Jill and told her to be available upon returning to his office. Jonathan had also asked Jason to have lunch with him and Ian, so that Jason could meet the CEO.

Due partly to his late arrival because of a long-overdue dentist appointment, the morning went very quickly, and it was suddenly 12:25, five minutes before the time scheduled for the luncheon meeting. The company had a small dining room that the officers could use when, due to the nature of a meeting, they needed privacy. Jason walked the short distance to Jonathan's office, only to find that Jonathan was waiting for him. "Ian will be in a good mood today. His alma mater just recruited one of the most sought after high school basketball players in the country. Ian is a big fan and booster of his old team, and their outlook for this upcoming season is very good".

Jason, himself a casual fan of most sports, responded with "It's always nice when the boss is in a good mood helps to break the ice ".