It was obvious that it was starting to make him nervous.
“But I’m really pleased you’re back on track, Björn. I just wanted you to know. Even the DG is pleased. He’s let us know how happy he is.”
He let out one of those exaggerated laughs, as if he was hoping I’d join in. I didn’t. His laughter died out. He looked round, leaned forward, and said in a confidential tone:
“Even the Minister is said to be pleased with our recent progress. You might manage to save all our jobs.”
He patted me on the shoulder and walked off.
54.
I worked on the investigations in the room in the evenings and at night. I edited them during the day and found every part of the job as good as you might expect when it’s done by an expert. Inside the room, I found a structure for the work. I regarded the investigator’s words as gospel, and through a process of elimination all that remained in the end was a clear and unambiguous decision. I found it easy.
Obviously each and every individual has different ways of reaching a decision. Some people find it hard, or think it feels strange. I discovered that I find it very easy to make decisions. It seemed to come naturally. I’m happy to decide things, and every time it felt perfectly fine formulating the way that things should be.
—
Jens came up to me one day fishing for advice.
“How come you can suddenly…?” Jens said. “I mean…we had no idea…”
“Hard work,” I said. “Hard work is the father of success.”
“But how do you go about it, exactly?”
I smiled.
“I’m sure you can understand that I can’t reveal my reasoning. That would be both undesirable and impossible. The best thing for the department and for you personally would be for you to work out your own way of reasoning on your own.”
55.
To start with I only dealt with four-figure cases. But as news of my success began to spread, the occasional three-figure case would land on my desk. Suddenly Karl came up to me, all excited, and asked how I would feel about taking on number 97. It was a direct request from the DG, he said. I said I’d be happy to. Framework decision number 97 was my first double-digit case.
Karl came with me up to the investigators to pick up the material. We could have done with a cart. As he walked beside me along the corridors of the upper floors with the heavy burden in his arms, it almost felt like he was my assistant. In some ways he had started to rely on me. I remember thinking: This is your future, Karl. Stick close to me.
Jörgen was losing his temper more and more often. Every now and then one of his outbursts would be aimed at Karl, usually for no obvious reason. But Karl shouted back, which I thought reasonable. Angry dogs need to be kept on a short leash.
56.
My days were spent writing up and editing, but seeing as that didn’t fill the whole working day I soon abandoned my fifty-five-minute method and had a lot of time left over for networking in the office.
I spent long periods by the coffee machine in the little kitchen, and noticed how people’s attitudes toward me gradually changed. I was given the space to spread out in social conversation. I would declare my opinion on various subjects and could immediately identify those who agreed with me, and those who said they did but were lying.
One day when we were standing there, Hannah with the ponytail suddenly said: “It’s great that you changed the bulb in here, Jens. It was high time that got done.”
She was grinning broadly and Jens tried to look nonchalant.
“Oh, it’s no big deal,” he said.
I put my cup down.
“I thought about doing that a few weeks ago,” I said.
And suddenly I realized the difference between me and my colleagues. I was ahead of them the whole time. By about two weeks. It took them numerous attempts to understand what I could see at the first go. Was it the same thing with the room? Would they stand there one day and discover what I had tried to show them such
“But I’m really pleased you’re back on track, Björn. I just wanted you to know. Even the DG is pleased. He’s let us know how happy he is.”
He let out one of those exaggerated laughs, as if he was hoping I’d join in. I didn’t. His laughter died out. He looked round, leaned forward, and said in a confidential tone:
“Even the Minister is said to be pleased with our recent progress. You might manage to save all our jobs.”
He patted me on the shoulder and walked off.
54.
I worked on the investigations in the room in the evenings and at night. I edited them during the day and found every part of the job as good as you might expect when it’s done by an expert. Inside the room, I found a structure for the work. I regarded the investigator’s words as gospel, and through a process of elimination all that remained in the end was a clear and unambiguous decision. I found it easy.
Obviously each and every individual has different ways of reaching a decision. Some people find it hard, or think it feels strange. I discovered that I find it very easy to make decisions. It seemed to come naturally. I’m happy to decide things, and every time it felt perfectly fine formulating the way that things should be.
—
Jens came up to me one day fishing for advice.
“How come you can suddenly…?” Jens said. “I mean…we had no idea…”
“Hard work,” I said. “Hard work is the father of success.”
“But how do you go about it, exactly?”
I smiled.
“I’m sure you can understand that I can’t reveal my reasoning. That would be both undesirable and impossible. The best thing for the department and for you personally would be for you to work out your own way of reasoning on your own.”
55.
To start with I only dealt with four-figure cases. But as news of my success began to spread, the occasional three-figure case would land on my desk. Suddenly Karl came up to me, all excited, and asked how I would feel about taking on number 97. It was a direct request from the DG, he said. I said I’d be happy to. Framework decision number 97 was my first double-digit case.
Karl came with me up to the investigators to pick up the material. We could have done with a cart. As he walked beside me along the corridors of the upper floors with the heavy burden in his arms, it almost felt like he was my assistant. In some ways he had started to rely on me. I remember thinking: This is your future, Karl. Stick close to me.
Jörgen was losing his temper more and more often. Every now and then one of his outbursts would be aimed at Karl, usually for no obvious reason. But Karl shouted back, which I thought reasonable. Angry dogs need to be kept on a short leash.
56.
My days were spent writing up and editing, but seeing as that didn’t fill the whole working day I soon abandoned my fifty-five-minute method and had a lot of time left over for networking in the office.
I spent long periods by the coffee machine in the little kitchen, and noticed how people’s attitudes toward me gradually changed. I was given the space to spread out in social conversation. I would declare my opinion on various subjects and could immediately identify those who agreed with me, and those who said they did but were lying.
One day when we were standing there, Hannah with the ponytail suddenly said: “It’s great that you changed the bulb in here, Jens. It was high time that got done.”
She was grinning broadly and Jens tried to look nonchalant.
“Oh, it’s no big deal,” he said.
I put my cup down.
“I thought about doing that a few weeks ago,” I said.
And suddenly I realized the difference between me and my colleagues. I was ahead of them the whole time. By about two weeks. It took them numerous attempts to understand what I could see at the first go. Was it the same thing with the room? Would they stand there one day and discover what I had tried to show them such
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