Page 225 of The Sweetest Return

“That’s why you're here.”

I brought the schedule up on the screen. Facility hours, practice, film, travel, games. Enough to make obvious what I already knew.

“If I accept, I cannot keep being the first call for ordinary decisions.”

Chuck's brows rose. “You think we can't run without you?”

“I think sometimes I built these companies around my availability instead of letting the people I hired fully use their authority.”

From the far end of the table, Pops's mouth moved slightly.

He liked that answer.

I kept the operational part simple. Each leadership team would have clearer authority to handle routine decisions without waiting for me. Major legal, financial, reputational, or capital issues would still come upstairs. Everything else belonged to the people I had hired to know their jobs.

Omar raised a hand. “Does this include mushrooms?”

“It especially includes mushrooms.”

“They are emotional.”

“Be emotional with Lena.”

Lena smiled. “Please don't.”

The room laughed enough to release some tension.

Then I looked at all of them.

“I’m not selling anything. I'm not disappearing into football and showing up here twice a year for photos. Strategy, capital, leadership, performance, all that is still mine. But if every ordinary issue needs Andre Jones before it can move, then I didn't build companies. I built jobs around my nerves.”

Omar looked at Lena. “That sounded rehearsed.”

“It was,” I said.

More laughter.

Deja leaned forward. “What are you really asking us?”

I appreciated that about her even when it irritated me.

“Can these businesses run if I coach?”

Chuck answered first.

“Yes.”

“Absolutely,” Lena said.

“Jones Outdoor can,” Yvette added.

Darren leaned back. “We already do more without you than you think.”

I looked at him. “Say more.”

Chuck picked it up.

“We can run these companies, Dre. Sometimes you make that harder because you enter a problem before the person responsible for it has time to solve it.”