Katarina Rostova had not applied for the job.

She had not, it became clear, ever imagined herself in it, which was one of the several reasons she was exactly right for it.

She treated the company’s money with the same unsentimental respect she brought to her designs — every dollar accountable, every claim testable, nothing spent on show.

When I offered her the role she asked me, first, not about her compensation but about whether she would be permitted to kill a prestige project that she believed was quietly bleeding the company.

I told her that was precisely why I was offering her the job.