"I am not Tang Yuze," she said clearly, each word enunciated with crystalline precision. "I don't have his patience for incompetence, his tolerance for the kind of bureaucratic theater this board seems to specialize in, his willingness to humor elderly men who believe their age grants them wisdom when it only grants them proximity to mortality. I don't care about your feelings, your traditions, your sense of historical entitlement, or your comfort. I care about results, operational efficiency, market dominance, and return on investment. You will provide those things, or you will be replaced by people who can. It's that simple."
She let her gaze sweep across all their faces, memorizing them, cataloging who looked defiant and who looked defeated, who might be useful and who was already obsolete.
