| You're a chemical engineer who works in the company's R&D labs you're attending a conference on a new chemical processing technology. A friend from college who is now a professor doing research in the same area will be attending the conference. You want to schedule some time to talk to him and get his perspective on recent developments in the field. But he is hard to reach. | An old friend from college who is doing research work in the same field as you in the R&D labs of a large corporation wants to get together and talk. You try to find some time for him in your busy schedule. |
| You sell expensive medical equipment (a small cyclotron for treating cancer) You have to make an appointment to talk with a doctor who is very influential at a hospital where you're trying to close a sale. You want to get him in the right mood so you invite him to play a round of golf at an expensive country club. | You're a doctor at an important university hospital. A salesman selling cancer treatment equipment has been hounding you trying to get some time to talk with you. Now he wants to meet over golf which doesn't seem too bad to you. You try to find some time for him in your busy schedule. |
| You own 20% of a company and feel that your ideas about where the company should be heading aren't being taken into acount by the company's management. You schedule a meeting with the CEO to talk about this. | A major stockholder in the company you are the CEO of has called you up repeatedly trying to get some time to talk to you about his vision of the future for the company. His ideas aren't really compatible with your's but you think it judicious to hear him out. You schedule some time for him over lunch. |
| Your friend has a job providing tech support to sales reps at a promising software startup. You've heard that there's an opening and you want to talk to your friend about the possibility of you landing the job. You suggest lunch or beer after work. | One of your best friends has just arrived back from his adventures in Asia. He's trying to find a job again and thinks you can help talk your boss into giving him a job in customer support. You both decide to meet over lunch. |
| Each year you exhibit the golf clubs that your small company manufactures at the Sporting Goods Show in New York. You've bumped into an old friend you haven't seen for years. | You used to exhibit the tennis rackets that your small company produced until it went bankrupt many years ago. This year you went back to the show for old times sake and you bumped into an old friend you haven't seen for years. You make an appointment to get together and reminisce about the old days. |
| You run a successful and unique golf shop that offers heavily discounted merchandise and cheap repairs Someone has offered to pay you a large sum of money if you give them the rights to and information needed to sell franchises. | You're really enthusiastic about this golf shop you've seen and want to use the shop format to sell franchises. |
| You're an investment banker visiting Jakarta to set up some merger and acquisition deals. A reporter wants to interview you. | You're a reporter who wants to write an insider story on the corporate reorganizations that are taking place in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. You make an appointment to talk with an investment banker (a friend of a friend) to talk about what's going on. |
| You're an MIS (management information systems) manager. Your counterpart from the European subsidiary is in town for meetings and you want to schedule some time to talk with him and exchange notes. | You're an MIS (management information systems) manager visiting coporate headquarters in the United States. You want to meet your counterpart in the United States and talk about solutions to problems that you share in common. |
| A team from corporate headquarters is in town to discuss the new corporate-wide accounting system. It's traditional for everyone in the office to chip in and take turns showing the members of the team around town and making them feel comfortable during their stay. It's your turn so you have to schedule some time on the weekend or in the evening. | You're a member of a team from corporate headquarters in town to discuss the new corporate-wide accounting system. One of your colleagues from the local subsidiary has suggested that you get together to see an Australian football match. He thought you might be interested since it's so different from American football. |
| The vice president of sales is arriving from corporate headquarters to get a progress report from you on developing sales leads in the region which haven't been going too well recently. | You're the vice president of sales for a company and you've just arrived from corporate headquarters to get a progress report on developing sales leads in a region in which things haven't been going very well recently. |