Isn't that a 1995 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin champagne?'' exclaimed Jacob Featherman, as soon as he spotted the tall, dark-green bottle on the cabinet behind Richard Adams' table. ''You always had an eye for wine,'' said Adams, getting up to pour the $530 champagne into two Krosno flutes. Feathermen and Adams were bankers. The former was a long-time director on the board, and Adams was the Chairman of New England Bank. This was their 20th year of friendship. Featherman, however, knew Adams too well to think that he had been invited merely for a glass of champagne.

''What's on your mind, Rick?'' Featherman cut to the chase.

''It's Hari,'' the 68-year-old Chairman said, making no attempt to pussy-foot. ''I think he's too aggressive, is spending a lot on acquisitions, forcing exit of employees who've been with us for decades... I don't think this is how our bank should grow.''

Adams was referring to the 45-year-old India born CEO, Hari Sharma, who had joined the British bank barely three years ago, after successful stints at American and German banks. Adams had picked Sharma from a short-list of five candidates. What clinched the job for Sharma was his strong experience in both South-East Asian and European markets. And New England Bank, although headquartered in the UK, was essentially an emerging market bank, with most of its revenues coming from Hong Kong.

Soon after taking over the CEO's job, Sharma had quickly put the bank into overdrive, snapping up smaller rivals in key markets. In fact, Adams had stood firmly behind the young CEO as he made big bets, and went about shaking things up at the conservative bank. But Featherman had long sensed Adams' discomfort with the pace of change.

''Have you had a chat with him about slowing down a bit?'' Featherman asked his friend.

''I have, but he doesn't seem keen to do that,'' replied Adams. ''I wanted your opinion on what we should do.''

''What do the other directors of the board feel? Do they share your concern?'' Featherman wanted to know. ''You are due to retire soon, Rick, and the board may want to create a bigger room for Hari.''

''That's unlikely,'' dismissed Adams. ''Most of our directors also feel that we ought to slow down. In fact, later this evening I have asked for a meeting, Hari included,'' the ageing chairman revealed.

The meeting was to start at 6:00 pm, but the 11 members of the board took their appointed place in the conference room only by quarter past six. ''Gentlemen,'' Adams started the meeting, addressing nobody in particular, ''a time comes in every organisation when it has to stop and ask itself the question whether it is doing everything right. In our case that time has come. I am sure that all of you will agree with me when I say that over the past three years Hari has done a wonderful job in consolidating the bank's business in new markets. But my fear is we may have done so at the cost of business in our home country and our employees. I don't think we should continue to do that.''

''A conservative approach will take us nowhere,'' shot back Sharma, making his stand clear. ''The topography of the banking industry has changed rapidly. It is obvious that organic growth is not the way to go any more. We have to leverage competition and build a critical mass for ourselves. Why, if my memory serves me right, this is precisely the reason why I was hired three years ago,'' said Sharma, not trying to camouflage the sarcasm.

Indeed. When Sharma joined, after having been wooed for two long years, the bank was at a critical juncture. The Asian crisis had just happened and many of its competitors were fleeing from the region. That, however, was not an option for a bank whose mainstay was Asia. As Adams saw it then, the bank not only had to stay its ground, but gain some too. For that reason too, Sharma had been the obvious choice. He had a proven track record in the region and the ethnic background needed to succeed.

Sharma's answer to the crisis had been typical of him. He had gone on an aggressive buying spree in Asia, catapulting the bank to the top slot. The strategy: Sharma kept liquidating the bank's assets in the developed world and replacing them with those in emerging markets. The bank had also started building a strong presence in the retail banking side. The expansion made sense to investors, who responded by boosting its stock price. That had actually helped New England thwart two takeover attempts.

Christopher Neel, an independent director on the board, saw sense in Sharma's argument. ''Hari is right. Sure, the bank is a hundred years old, it has a great brand equity and a strong focus in Asia. But we need scale. I don't think we can survive anymore takeover attempts,'' Neel said.

''Precisely,'' said Sharma, happy at having found a supporter. ''Look at what the analysts are saying about us. They are loving what we are doing today. We just can't afford to lose the momentum we've built up.''

The meeting didn't produce any verdicts. But it was clear that things were coming to a head. For the life of him, Sharma couldn't figure out how things shaped up this way. He had only acted in the best interest of the bank. Why suddenly the tide, whipped up by Adams, was turning against him was not clear. One thing was, though: Sharma wouldn't want to work with his hands tied. The choice before the board was clear too: it had to throw in its lot with either Adams or Sharma. Or was it possible to find a third solution?

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