One Thursday, the team was preparing for a $2M client pitch. The final video edits, the case study PDFs, and the revised budget—all of it required Jim’s sign-off. Marcus sent three emails. Two Slack messages. Even a sticky note on Jim’s monitor that read:

Within 90 seconds, his phone buzzed. A text from Jim: “Oh crap. On it. Sorry—got buried in a new concept.”

By 4:55 PM, all approvals were in. The pitch the next morning went flawlessly. They won the account.

By 4:30 PM, nothing.

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