Before the drastic change of Elite, the deep network of resources and the success of the new media operation department demonstrated in her daily work had given Grace considerable prestige within the company. Otherwise, John Casablanca would not have turned against him because his status was threatened. In addition, With Simon Westeros personally coming forward this time, Grace's takeover of Elite went very smoothly.
Simon revealed his intention to let her take charge of Elite last year. Grace, who had no doubt about the man's ability to push her to the top, had considered this matter more than once in private and sent Simon to rest upstairs. In the following hour, Grace based on some previous Consider starting to make adjustments to Elite in an orderly manner.
The first is a series of job structure adjustments.
Because it is an unlisted private company and does not have the title of CEO, Grace personally serves as the president of Elite Company. This time she is the head of the entire Elite Models Management, leading this giant model agency around the world. all subsidiaries within.
Elite previously had a board of directors, and with Simon's permission, Grace announced on the spot that this department would be disbanded. In the future, management would only report directly to shareholders, mainly Apollo Management Company.
In fact, I am only responsible to Simon.
The reason why Elite's 55% stake is held through Apollo Management is mainly to avoid conflicts of interest.
All walks of life in the United States have legal provisions to avoid conflicts of interest.
From the "Ethics Reform Law" for government employees to the "Labor-Management Relations Law" for enterprises to the "Model Rules of Professional Conduct" that specifically limit a certain field such as the legal profession, efforts are being made to prevent professional subjects from representing the interests of both parties at the same time. Legal restrictions that favor one party in actual operation and cause losses to the other party.
Hollywood talent agencies cannot get directly involved in the production business because they are restricted by federal and California conflict-of-interest regulations.
However, most laws leave a large degree of leeway in their enforcement.
Just like the project packaging mechanism created by Michael Ovitz, it is actually a disguised way of bypassing the legal regulations that prohibit agencies from getting involved in the production business in order to obtain more profits.
The modeling agency industry has very relaxed conflict of interest regulations.
Just like a certain Golden Retriever real estate developer, historically he owned a modeling agency, a TV production company, and was directly involved in the fashion field. To be honest, these three areas are all in conflict with each other. They can be bypassed by using some business methods such as hosting and affiliated services. At least on the surface, they are blameless.
For Elite, Simon also adopted this strategy.
After personally taking charge of Elite and announcing the dissolution of the board of directors, Grace unceremoniously removed the president of Elite's US branch, who had been John Casablanca's confidant, and replaced him with an executive with whom she was usually on good terms. At the same time, the head of the Elite advertising planning department, which had been promoted before falling out with Casablanca, was also appointed on the spot.
Grace fine-tuned this department and renamed it the Business Planning Department.
What seems to be a change of words actually means that the field involved in this department will not only be advertising planning, but also event planning similar to the model competition that Elite has been holding in recent years.
This is also a disguised takeover of power, directly holding the right to hold the World Elite Model Contest, which has become increasingly influential in recent years, in its hands.
In addition to advertising and competitions, this department will also be involved in TV program production, fashion event planning, etc. Initially, Grace just wanted to start with the advertising business. Now that she has mastered Elite, she can completely carry out reforms according to her own ideas.
This is actually imitating IMG (International Management Group), another giant in the talent agency industry.
IMG, which owns sports celebrities such as Tiger Woods, mainly focuses on the sports field. In recent years, it has also begun to get involved in the model agency industry, mainly representing high-end clients. Therefore, the scale of related aspects is far less than that of Elite. However, compared to Elite, which has no scale but a single business and is not enterprising, IMG has been constantly trying to break through the core business of its talent agency in recent years. Now it has expanded its brand to planning consulting, sports training, TV production, etc. aspect.
Because of the huge success of this diversified operation strategy, IMG not only got rid of its dependence on talent agency business, but also allowed more big names to rely on IMG's resource channels, and at the same time created IMG's huge scale far beyond Elite.
The most important thing is that IMG has also gained the right to speak in the sports field.
It's like CAA in Hollywood.
If it weren't for the emergence of the big butterfly Simon and relying on the project packaging mechanism, Michael Ovitz would have been the number one person on the Hollywood power list in the past few years.
As long as Elite's diversification strategy is successful, the model agency giant will also be able to gain a stronger voice in the fashion field. It will no longer be the lowest end of the fashion industry chain at this stage. In order to gain more opportunities for its clients, it will have to Don't try your best to please everyone.
After arranging these things, Grace asked Elite's legal department to start re-drafting the contract and transfer a series of modeling contracts that were originally held directly by John Casablanca to her personal name.
In fact, Grace also hopes to implement the CAA model, which can avoid internal friction to the greatest extent and bundle the interests of all agents in the company.
It's just that it's not suitable to do this at this stage.
Because CAA's cross-agency model is essentially a decentralization of power, it prevents any one agent from leaving with a large number of top clients.
If Elite wants to complete a transformation, it must not decentralize in the short term. For this old model agency, which is bloated and inefficient due to years of shortcomings, strong centralization is the key to achieving change. Otherwise, any Each reform measure may be evaded or ignored due to the lack of strong skills on the part of the person at the helm.
The result is that nothing can be changed
The meeting ended and it was already 12 o'clock at noon. Grace came upstairs and knocked on the door of her office. The vigorous and resolute behavior just now disappeared. She saw the three Cindy girls chatting and laughing around Simon in the room. Just Nodding, he said to the man: "Simon, it's already noon, can I treat you to lunch?"
Women are naturally good at pretending.
Simon smiled and nodded cooperatively, stood up and said, "Okay."
The three girls actually wanted to be together, but when they felt Grace's faint gaze coming over, they immediately gave up the idea. Women's sixth sense is also very sensitive. Karen Mulder, who was swept by Grace's gaze, felt guilty. He couldn't help but shrink his neck and wanted to take the opportunity to say a few words, but he couldn't speak until Simon and Grace left.
The two left the Elite headquarters and went to the underground parking lot to get into Simon's car. Grace suddenly lost her strong-woman demeanor and couldn't help but lean over and hug Simon's arm, curiously asking: "What's going on Karen?"
Simon felt Grace's emotion, so he simply took the woman over and put her on his lap, saying, "I was with Cindy and the others for two days, and she broke in."
Grace hummed: "I'll fire her this afternoon."
Simon put his arm around the woman's waist: "But, she asked me to help intercede, and I agreed."
Grace raised her face and rubbed Simon's stubbled chin. Her breathing became a little more rapid, and she whispered softly: "Then let her go."
Simon lowered his head and kissed the woman on the lips, and said with a smile: "Are you so thoughtless?"
"You...well, that's my idea."
In fact, there is still a lot of work to do in the afternoon, but when she is with Simon, Grace has no sense of time at all. At most, she just needs to work overtime in the afternoon and evening.
The two rushed to Simon's Upper East Side apartment, also located on Fifth Avenue, and did not sit down at the dining table until 1:30 in the afternoon.
The housekeeper Angora Davis personally delivered lunch to the two of them, and she couldn't help but feel a little envious when she noticed Grace's radiant face after being moisturized.
Grace glanced at the back of the housekeeper as she left, and said to Simon: "Should I ask Karen and Lima to come over to stay with you tonight?"
Simon slowly sliced the black pepper sturgeon on the dinner plate, shook his head and said: "No, you do your own thing. You don't need to arrange these for me all the time. It's not good for your reputation."
Grace hummed.
In fact, I don't care.
In this industry, as well as in Hollywood and the music industry, in order to promote the artists under their names, many agents are doing something similar to pimping, doing everything possible to push their clients into the arms of rich and powerful people.
This is true no matter which circle.
Otherwise, with so many people in the world, the most indispensable thing is a good figure and a pretty face. How can you be in a position of power, walk in big-name shows, get luxury endorsements, and make money in a year that others cannot make in a lifetime? Could it be that the millions of dollars he has received are just because he walks well on stage and is more photogenic
This is no fairy tale world.
This is the way the world is, nothing is ever without a reason.
Perhaps after some things are exposed, some people will be filled with indignation and their reputations will be ruined. However, when the storm is over, many things will continue to repeat themselves, repeated again and again. Outsiders will still not understand it, and people in the game will still take it for granted. Of course, there will also be some outsiders who work hard to become people in the game, and then enjoy this taken-for-granted thing together. .
How do you say that
Natural selection, the law of the jungle.
In fact, modern society has become very friendly to the weak. At least the weak will not always feel the strict hierarchy that they were killed for thousands of years ago. As long as the weak do not try to change their class, they can live in peace and stability throughout their lives. However, the class pyramid has never disappeared. Once some unwilling and weak people want to climb up, the cruel law of the jungle will immediately hit them. Break through and look down at all living beings. If you can't break through, you will be shattered into pieces.
Inside the restaurant.
Grace quickly took the initiative to mention Elite, which she had officially taken over in the morning. She had worked for this model agency for many years. She knew Elite's heritage and potential much better than Simon. She was once just an ordinary agent, and she could only do her own share. Inner Affairs now has a complete platform. Whether it is to make a career or live up to Simon's expectations, she hopes to make Elite the best.
"When John and the others sold most of Elite's shares to the private equity fund in Canada, the company's financial situation began to become confusing. In recent years, it has become more and more chaotic. You know, this is to facilitate operations. It will definitely not be allowed to happen in the future. You are at a disadvantage, so I plan to conduct a comprehensive financial review of the company as soon as possible."
Simon agreed: "I'll tell Leon this afternoon that we can use our own accounting team without hiring a third party."
Grace lowered her head to cut the fish and continued: "Also, taking advantage of this review, I plan to clean up some people and take back the power of several major divisions in Europe and Asia. Several executives in Europe have taken over the power in recent years. The several branches over there completely regard it as their own territory. They are definitely not clean, and excuses are easy to come up with. In addition, I will also readjust the rules for sharing between the company, brokers and customers."
Simon recalled the Elite scandal in 1999 and asked: "Who is in charge of the Paris branch?"
"Gaillard Mari," Grace blurted out deftly, adding: "This is Linda's ex-husband, what's wrong?"
Linda Evangelista’s ex-husband, Simon didn’t pay attention to it before: “Is this person on your cleanup list?”
"Yes, he is the one I just mentioned, and he is also a direct descendant of John. If I don't get rid of him, I won't be able to take back the power of the Paris branch."
In this case, Simon didn't mention it again, thought about it, and said: "Actually, these are all details. The first thing you have to change is the internal culture of Elite. This is very important. As far as I know, the internal culture of Elite is very It’s terrible. Many people regard the models under the company’s name as prey rather than customers. If this is not reversed, something will happen sooner or later.”
Most companies have their own corporate culture.
However, a lot of it is just superficial.
As for Elite, the true corporate culture can be imagined from John Casablanca’s past style of changing his wife to an 18-year-old girl every few years, and then following the example, Gaillard Mari’s statement in the BBC exposure documentary that sparked public opinion The words of all the young girls who participated in the modeling competition as young as twelve or thirteen years old also show the unscrupulousness within Elite.
Simon also knows that the entire circle is like this, and even now he cannot change too much.
However, if there is no restraint and no scruples, Elite may be in trouble before it has time to complete its diversified transformation. Now that we have taken over this company and have a big backer like the Westeros System, the chance of Elite breaking out in a similar scandal is actually very small, but Simon doesn't want the Westeros System to provide a source of support for some small fish and shrimps. Blessing, efforts and gains are completely out of proportion.
Grace nodded solemnly and looked at Simon with a smile: "Then, what should you do? You don't plan to use Elite to pick up girls?"
Simon said matter-of-factly: "There is a very interesting idiom in China, which states that only state officials are allowed to set fires, but ordinary people are not allowed to light lamps."
Grace was confused: "Huh?"
Simon briefly explained the connotation of this idiom, and then said: "I am the state official who can set fire. As for those cats, dogs, fish and shrimps, they just work hard to help me. They light the lamps randomly, but I am the one who is burned." of lamp oil.”
Grace curled her lips, but nodded her head repeatedly: "I will help you keep an eye on the lamp oil."
"You are also my lamp oil."
"Hmm, haha, no wonder you keep the decision-making power of Victoria's Secret Angel in your own hands."
"I actually have good intentions, do you believe it?"
"Of course, in fact, I have seen it a long time ago. Let those girls know that if they want to be on the Victoria's Secret catwalk, they only need to please one person in Westeros, and they no longer need to cater to agents, photographers, A lot of management and stuff like that.”
"So, I was actually taken advantage of."
"Also, you don't actually want those girls to sleep with you all the way."
"Well, if you see through this, don't tell me. From now on, you can only say those flattering words in front of me."
"Actually, Qusi and the others are very grateful to you. It's just a title of Westeros lover. They haven't encountered any harassment in the past year. You know, even Cindy and the others can't avoid this kind of thing. I don't know. How many girls want to be treated like Qusi and the others, otherwise Cindy wouldn’t always be around you.”
Simon nodded with satisfaction: "Yes, that's it."
Grace's eyes were filled with tenderness: "I'm serious."
"OK, one or two pieces of cake a day is enough."
Grace stopped eating, looked at Simon and said: "Actually, if someone else had just told me that they wanted to change Elite's corporate culture, I could only tell them that it is impossible, because this is the norm in this circle, and everyone is like this. , if changes are forced, not to mention those in power, even the girls involved may not be willing. Do you know? When many girls seek a model agency, they will take the initiative to test whether the company can help them introduce paid escorts. If No, they won't sign the contract. This time, because it's you, I'm willing to give it a try. Moreover, I still can't change anything. I just hope that Elite can rely on the Westeros system and can be in this circle. It's more powerful, just like Hollywood, where a low-level actor becomes a big star, and he will naturally be much less coveted."
Grace was talking, with some obvious sadness in her tone.
Simon reached over and took the woman's little hand that she reached out to: "You know, I will protect you, that's it."
Grace smiled again and shook Simon's big hand in turn: "I know, that's why I am willing to be your lamp oil."
"The metaphor of lamp oil is actually not very good, it is worse than a vase."
"I think it's good."
"Okay, as long as you like."
Grace's little finger suddenly hooked on Simon's palm again: "Master, do you want to light the lamp again later?"