Free Learning curves by Gemma Townley

protection schemes could be viewed as corrupt, depending which side of the fence you’re on.”
    Daniel put his hand up. “Okay, guys, thank you for your input,” he said quickly.
Think work,
he told himself forcefully.
Focus on the issue.
“This is a big issue, actually,” he found himself saying. “And you’re both right, in many ways. . . .” He thought frantically. This really wasn’t his area of expertise. “There are two ways of looking at this,” he continued, trying to look confident and self-assured. “You could argue, for instance, that if a condom firm ignores the millions of Africans dying of HIV, then soon they won’t have a market for their products. If oil companies don’t do their bit to encourage energy efficiency, they’ll have themselves to blame when the world runs out of oil altogether and their profits run dry. Or you can argue that laudable aims like solving world hunger and teaching children in the developing world to read, are all very well, but if they don’t make a profit, then a business has no reason to do them. But in today’s environment, ethics is certainly becoming more of an issue. The globalization riots, for instance, and boycotts against companies that use sweatshops are really having an impact.”
    Jen found herself staring at Daniel again. Not only was he the most beautiful man she’d ever seen, but he was clever, too.
    Lara elbowed Jen, who started slightly. “Ask him out,” Lara whispered with a little smile. “You can call it homework.”
    Jen blushed and smiled back. “I think he prefers the guy at the front,” she said with a little shrug as Daniel continued to talk, his eyes fixed directly on the front row for the rest of the lecture.
    At lunchtime, Jen popped into Bill’s office to look at his books.
    “Hey, Jen!” He grinned. “What can I do you for?
Fundamentals of Management
?
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Business but Were Afraid to Ask
?”
    Jen smiled at him uncertainly. “Do you have anything by Daniel Peterson?”
    Bill looked nonplussed, and Jen quickly regretted asking. She might as well have said, “Do you know if Daniel Peterson has a girlfriend?” She wondered if he did have a girlfriend. Or wife.
    “I don’t think so,” Bill said, frowning. “Daniel Peterson, you say? I don’t know the name, I’m afraid.”
    “He, um, works here,” Jen said before she could stop herself. “He lectures on internal analysis . . .”
    Bill looked thoughtful, then grinned. “Dan? Dan’s not an academic! He’s what we call a practitioner. I believe he works in bookselling. Just guest lectures from time to time.”
    Jen nodded, trying to hide her excitement. A bookseller! He wasn’t a Bell employee after all—he sold books. What a great job. She didn’t usually think of booksellers as corporate strategists who would be lecturing at an MBA course, but that made him all the more appealing. He wasn’t a corporate drone. And best of all, he didn’t work for her father—at least, not entirely—he probably worked in some lovely little bookstore somewhere, lovingly displaying books about . . .
    She frowned. What if it was a business bookshop? Someone who worked in a little independent bookstore was hardly going to end up giving lectures at Bell Consulting, even if he was just a guest lecturer. She wanted to ask Bill which bookseller he worked for, but stopped herself just in time. For all she knew, he might know Daniel really well and she didn’t want Bill thinking she was a stalker.
    “So,” Bill continued. “Maybe something on information systems?”
    Jen looked at him seriously and remembered Tim’s warnings about Green Futures’ finances.
    “Have you got something on financial management?” she asked hesitantly. It wasn’t a question she ever thought she’d ask anyone, and it didn’t exactly trip off her tongue.
    “Beginner or intermediate?” Bill asked with a big smile.
    “Both,” Jen said determinedly. “If that’s