I swear he pales. “Can’t you find an internal candidate who’s a romance fan? Someone with a passion for the space but an analytical mind?” “No,” I say. “We need professionals, not fans. And she has an analytical mind. She knows where a manuscript isn’t working and why. She negotiates contracts. That’s all analysis. It’s just not math.” I can tell I’ve almost got him. “I just want to reiterate that the vlookup thing threw me,” he says. “That’s basic, basic stuff.” It’s tempting to confess that I also don’t know how to do a vlookup, but this probably isn’t the moment.
