Kir and Thornton make a slow loop through the floor, pausing at desks, shaking hands. Thornton is doing the introducing—“This is Kir Lazarev, CEO of Lazarev Global, one of our most valued advertising partners”—and Kir is doing everything else. He remembers names after hearing them once. He asks follow-up questions. When Thornton introduces him to Cheryl from the culture desk, Kir somehow already knows she wrote a piece on the Met’s new contemporary wing last month. “I read it twice,” he tells her with a solemn look of gratitude. “You made me care about Brutalist architecture, which I didn’t think was possible.” Cheryl turns the color of a ripe tomato and laughs so hard she sneezes.
He does this with everyone. Deborah from copy gets a compliment on her coffee mug, which has a picture of a
