Not long ago, I was invited to give a keynote address at the conclusion of a company's two-day retreat for several hundred employees and key sales managers. I have a habit of always asking my employer if I'm allowed to show up at the beginning of the day to get a feel for the audience, meet a few individuals, and get a sense of everyone's mood. Unless I have to present top secret or proprietary information, they almost always give me permission.

In the case of this CEO, he enthusiastically responded: "No problem, we would love to have you present."

So, even though I was scheduled to present in the late afternoon, I still showed up right after lunch, chose a private seat at the back of the hall and was ready to feel the whole atmosphere. Even though I knew that this company was in the war-torn telecommunications industry, where almost every company began experiencing fatal failures in 2001, I was still unprepared for what happened. I'm about to see.