The operations staff objected.

Ships would be delayed.

Contracts might be lost.

A major customer warned of penalties.

Vincent listened to all of it, then said, “We will not require people to work beneath structures we are afraid to inspect.”

It sounded obvious when he said it aloud.

The silence afterward told him how far the company had drifted from obvious things.

At home that night, he took Sophie’s drawing from his desk drawer and unfolded it carefully.