The simplest, most straightforward, most honest approach would involve reporting: "Customers don't like the design. Despite the most ardent efforts of our sales people, despite extensive advertising and promotion support, despite everything we could think of, customers just don't want to buy this product. Let's kill it and take our lumps."

Unfortunately, business is simply not conducted that way; it's almost unpatriotic to write such a report. Charlie had to come up with another approach, else he'd be labeled a pessimist, lacking vision. There just had to be a way to present bad news and make it look like good news. Others must certainly have encountered the problem.

Searching for a clue, Charlie's mind wandered all over the world. His memory settled on a possible solution in Rio de Janeiro. In a visit years ago, he was taken with the beautiful statue, "Christ the Redeemer," with outstretched arms, overlooking the beautiful, crime-bedeviled city from the summit of the Corcovado mountain. The world-famous statue appeared to be embracing and blessing the residents of Rio, the Cariocas.

But what of the people behind Corcovado, who could see only the back of the statue? Was Christ turning his back on them? Was he forsaking them? What could they say to justify the fact that Christ had his back to them as he faced Rio? How did they turn such bad news into good news?

That was easy, they would tell you. Christ had to watch the Cariocas because he didn't trust them.

That was a possible solution for Charlie, but he wanted something better. Ah, he thought, Wall Street must have an answer. It always does. And he recalled the profundity that came from the financial geniuses who were so astute in predicting the past. He remembered their guiding wisdom: "Don't fight the tape," which he understood to mean buy when others are buying, and "Don't follow the crowd," which he understood to mean don't buy when others are buying. And he remembered the frequent sage advice: "Just watch this stock." He didn't know quite how to watch a stock or what to do after watching it. But it triggered his imagination.

Finally, he arrived at the solution.

Glorious success, he reported with all proper earnestness, had not yet arrived for the product. Rewards for the massive investment of money and time are yet to come. Just watch.