family members, and no one argued against that. The business began to grow and so did the need for personnel.Sean made a big mistake only 5 years into his career. With the insistence of one of his sisters, he hired an in-law. It was against his better judgement, but he figured he could place him in a job were the family ties would not cause any problems. He hired him into the accounting department that was in desperate need of manpower at the time. His name was Rich, a fittingly ironic name, as you will later see. Rich was full of ideas to expand the business. He wanted to develop markets geared toward retail fashion stores. At a family dinner, he commented on how lucrative the Levi's blue-jeans business was becoming. He noted that blue jeans, along with olive-drab jackets and camouflage clothing like the kind the O'Sheas made for the military were selling as fast as they were stocked. He suggested that Sean begin pursuing these markets. Sean politely rejected his proposal, but Rich kept insisting it was a "gold mine idea". Sean explained that the business had already cornered a low risk, highly consistent market, and that pursuing the new retail markets was a risky venture, one that he was not willing to expose the business to. The business was the familys livelihood, and putting them at risk just wasnt feasible. This made perfect sense since profits were at an all time high and there had been relatively little change to the companys tactics since its founding. However, Rich saw things differently. In his opinion, if theres a promising opportunity that could greatly increase sales, it should be pursued. Neither would budge after numerous "meetings", more aptly named confrontations by the family members. Family get-togethers were beginning to turn into heated business debates, with family members split on both sides of the issue. At work, the arguments were beginning to affect Seans ability to manage the business. Rich wo...
