Speaking of which, Catherine had already met several financial prodigies who would later become famous in the United States during the 1980s—people like Soros. Unfortunately, these future titans were still young at the time.
Moreover, the real transformation of the United States from an "industrial nation" into a "financial nation" came under the pressure of confronting the Soviet Union. Some argue that the Soviet Union collapsed before the United States precisely because the U.S. began this financial transformation earlier.
Regardless of whether finance is ultimately good or bad, well-known financial theory books only started appearing in the 1970s, and for companies that want to expand, finding truly capable financial talent is extremely difficult.
Of course, it doesn't necessarily have to be financial talent.
Catherine believed that pragmatists could also be good candidates, but she worried that if the CEO were too pragmatic, would they lose out to more aggressive competitors?
It was a debatable question.
As a result, Catherine found herself stuck in a dilemma.
But after thinking it over, she realized she didn't need to be so conflicted.
If she couldn't find top-tier financial talent, could others? And without government backing, how effective could financial geniuses really be anyway? Besides, a CEO isn't a stock trader.
After weighing everything, Catherine decided that her CEO didn't need to be exceptionally brilliant, but did need broad vision—and, more importantly, someone she could trust.
And so, Catherine already had a candidate in mind.
Soon enough, it was Friday again. After finishing her afternoon classes, Catherine rushed home.
"I'm home," Bruce said as he opened the door, letting out a sigh of relief. Tomorrow was the weekend, and he had been considering going out, but given the recent activity surrounding the Black Power movement, he decided it would be safer to stay home.
Bruce hated racists, but he also disliked Black people.
"Honey, how was work today?" Emma greeted him with a smile, while Catherine, sitting nearby, looked at him expectantly.
Damn it—was today some kind of important day?
Wait a second…
"It was fine. Not too bad," Bruce said with a shrug.
As a man of Jewish descent, Bruce was quite sharp. He immediately sensed that something about the atmosphere was different today.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Catherine started a company," Emma said first.
"I know. She set up a factory in Georgia."
"Yes, and the company is doing very well—it's extremely popular." Emma smiled. She genuinely cared about Catherine. She had long sensed that Catherine wasn't truly passionate about ballet. American parents are generally more open-minded with their children. Even though Emma loved ballet, she wouldn't force Catherine to pursue it if she didn't want to. Children have their own paths; seeing them grow up happy and become fulfilled adults—that's probably what parents want most.
"I know," Bruce replied.
Like Emma, Bruce was also worried about his daughter. He secretly knew a bit about Ark Corporation and the Hogwarts magic factory, though only from publicly available information. He didn't want to pry into things Catherine didn't want him to know.
Catherine's factory was running at full capacity every day, producing and packaging various molds, and sales were quite strong.
"Yes, Catherine is very busy now, but she also still has school. What do you think we should do?" Emma asked.
"Streamline operations, hire more capable employees, and decisively fire anyone who's just occupying a position without doing real work. That's it," Bruce replied.
"Right now, my company is missing a chief manager," Catherine added.
Bruce was taken aback. "A chief manager… a CEO? Your company needs something like that?"
Catherine tilted her head. "Hehe, I hope my company can one day become the mastermind controlling America~"
Bruce shook his head helplessly.
"Let's be realistic."
Catherine pouted, sighing inwardly at her stingy father's complete lack of humor.
"It could become a multinational corporation someday. I haven't even considered going public yet. And even if I did, it would probably be a disguised IPO. We need a global vision. Dad, I don't want to be just a small manufacturing plant, you know? I still hold the GameTV patent, and I plan to develop it later!"
"You really are… an ambitious girl, Kate."
Bruce had already taken off his shoes and sat down at the dining table, picking up the coffee Emma had prepared.
"So…" Emma continued, "Kate wants to hire you as the CEO of her company."
"Pfft—"
Bruce spit out the coffee he had just taken a sip of.
"Cough—cough—what did you just say?"
He stared at them in disbelief.
"Kate wants you to help run the company."
"But… me working at my daughter's company?" Bruce was stunned.
"Sweetheart, I know going to work for your child's company might feel awkward for a grown man, but don't you complain all the time about your authoritarian boss? Don't you want to be the dictator yourself for once? Or do you just have that little confidence in our child's company?"
Emma sat up straight, her expression serious.
Even though Bruce knew she was exaggerating on purpose, he still didn't know how to respond.
"I think… uh… okay. Kate, can you show me your company's information? Even if I don't help directly, maybe I can give you some advice."
Catherine had already prepared everything. In order to persuade Bruce, she had organized all the company documents long ago. She immediately went back to her room and brought them out.
Bruce carefully reviewed the documents Catherine handed him. The more he read, the more shocked he became.
"Kate, are you the only one running this company? Human Resources? Department heads? General manager…? You don't have any of these?" Bruce asked in disbelief.
"Not exactly… but I'm responsible for all the decisions. You could say I'm the one in charge."
Catherine hadn't really set up certain departments. Her sales department was newly formed and had very few people, because businesses usually came to them directly. Of course, she had a group of assistants, but Catherine personally handled the core work. At the moment, her company only had a single factory, which made management convenient and saved a lot of money.
However, from another perspective, a company structured like this would have a hard time growing.
This was one of the main reasons Catherine needed a new CEO instead of continuing to run everything herself.
Bruce shook his head.
"Maybe I really should go help…"
Even though liberal education was widespread in the United States, Bruce was still deeply concerned about Catherine.
Was this kind of company… really okay?
Clearly, this system needed a major overhaul.