Third-Generation Sign Company Leadership Crisis

I, CLAUDIA, WILL tell you my story. How I started lower than anyone in the company — a family-run sign company, my family — and ultimately wound up on the verge of running that empire which my grandfather started decades upon decades ago: Roma Signs Inc.

My grandfather Augustus Roma had emerged from a triumvirate partnership that formed a network of billboard advertising… well, some say he vanquished SPQR Signs… renamed it and took the company from citywide to national then international.

But rapid success brought out the worst from some in my family and I think Augustus knew it. Grandfather passed away, never having retired, a month before I turned 27. His oldest son, my uncle Tiberius, took over but wasn’t as famously “hands on” as Augustus, quickly installing his old college fraternity brother Sejanus as executive vice president. That didn’t sit well with Tiberius’ siblings working at Roma, including my father.

Turned out that acting numero uno while playing the role of second fiddle was not a large enough part in our drama for Sejanus, but his bid to oust Tiberius only half succeeded. Indeed, Tiberius was forced out, but as a bee’s sting is fatal — for the bee — Sejanus was cast out as well.

This left my father in charge, and while I love him dearly, he found himself promoted beyond his station. He was a fabrication-installation guy and struggled with the financial aspect of management. However, not wanting a repeat of Sejanus, he was wary of turning over too much control to a VP. Sadly, he passed away in an auto accident just short of 18 months running the company.

Roma Signs Inc. was in turmoil at the top, but was also lucky that the employees, customers and systems in place kept business going largely unchanged, the limits of the billboard empire held back only by the sea … then things really got wild.

Somehow… some say blackmail was involved… Tiberius’ son Caligula was advanced to the presidency from a middle-management position. Once he had the proverbial keys in his hands, particularly the executive expense account, he began throwing outrageous parties for clients, featuring all manners of debauchery. He also loved to post inappropriate content to social media — often during the parties.

Caligula was warned by the shareholding members of the family to get his sh-t together immediately or be removed. Overconfident in the power he assumed the presidency bestowed upon him, Caligula ignored that warning and continued on his merry way until —

One party disfavor went too far and with the particularly wrong person, the niece of a top client being entertained, who demanded Caligula’s head or her uncle would take his national billboard account elsewhere. The family were only too happy to oblige.

Five different leaders of the company in under nine years had not instilled confidence in the shareholders. They opened a search for a new executive, someone from outside the family.

Now, dear reader, if you are still with me, here is where our story takes a turn.

The managers of every department, from sales and marketing, to design, fab and install — all of them — rose up and demanded that I, Claudia, be named CEO of Roma Signs. You see, for many years I had quietly gone about my business, learning what I could as I moved from one department to the next. I knew these people and they knew me for who I really was and not what my family thought I was…

Which was a “half-wit,” a nickname Caligula cruelly started when I had something of a stutter as a child. I was proud to conquer it in my teens but the moniker remained.

Well, what can I say? Except that I have survived and advanced in this company with half my wits while those around me have perished with all their wits intact. Evidently, quality of wits is more important than quantity.

And so I await the family-shareholders’ decision. The fate of Roma lies in their hands.

Julius C.
44 BC Signs, Rome

They all stab you right in the back.

Cleopatra
Alexandria, Egypt

Trying to run a sign company with a Roman is a complete pain in the asp. One barges in, starts doing things his way and steals your heart only for another to come in with a hostile takeover. The absolute death of me!

Commodus
Rome

I feel for the characters in the story — not Claudia so much, but more for Tiberius and especially Caligula. I can relate because everyone blames me for running the shop my father Marcus Aurelius started into the ground. It isn’t as easy as it seems to wreck an 84-year-old company.