POV: CHASE
The boardroom battle begins the way all battles of this type begin, which is not with a single decisive confrontation but with the gradual erosion of ground, the specific kind of corporate warfare that is conducted through memos and meetings and the particular loyalty of people who have been on one side long enough to be on that side and are now watching the other side make a compelling argument for switching.
Dominic has been on the Sterling Industries board for thirty-one years. He built the board, in the literal sense of having selected and cultivated the current membership over decades, and the loyalty of that board to Dominic is structural rather than personal, the loyalty of people who understand that Dominic Sterling represents the institution and the institution has been good to them and therefore Dominic has been good to them and therefore Dominic's judgment is credible and his concerns are valid and his vision for the company's direction is worth protecting.
