This was the first trip Leonardo was taking on his private jet after he became the CEO of the $150 billion business empire.
While he would have normally shunned luxuries such as private jets, he finally agreed to it as a mark of his prestigious position. After all, everything about him has to project that he was representing a global leader.
Dad should be very proud of me, he thought to himself as his jet touched down at Rome, the city where most things happened to him until he was 25.
He took a cab, which happened to be a large SUV, from the airport to his house, about 20 miles away from the airport.
Was Antonio proud to see his son as the CEO of a global giant!
“Ah, everything can wait, but not this,” he said as he happily hugged his son.
“My dear Isabella,” he shouted to his wife, “bring the blackest and strongest of coffees to our esteemed guest “
“Oh, dad,” protested Leo, “I’m just the same fellow you have known forever.”
And then the two got to chit-chat – the black coffee did a marvellous job of keeping the discussions hot and brewing.
Anotonio, ever the eco-conscious man, suddenly asked, “Hey, that cab of yours I saw, that was one of the biggest cabs I have seen in my life. Why, it could carry an entire football team.”
Leo doubted it. Perhaps a small team of gymnasts, but 20 burly adults?
But yes, he thought, it was indeed a pretty large cab.
His dad was asking, “At least I hope you shared the cab with others.”
“Of course not, dad. I travelled alone. I’m the CEO of a $150 billion firm now.”
Antonio snorted, “$150 billion, eh? That’s all well, but that shouldn’t have stopped you from saving some CO2 emissions which you could have if you had taken another three people in that cab! That beast would have weighed at least two tons and it carried just you and the driver – less than 200 Kg together – for 20 miles. An extra-ordinary mass of metal travelling uselessly. Hmmmph”
Leo was stunned. He had never thought of such an intricate math regarding men and metal involved in a car’s CO2 emissions. His mind went to a group of four blokes who had enquired if they could share his cab as they were going in the same direction.
How much, Leo sadly mused, he had disappointed the old man by taking a large cab, and that too alone. In his dad’s eyes, he must look like a spoilt industrialist, uncaring about the planet and environment. Oh, if only he had at least shared the ride with the four people – the group even had a pretty lady thrown in as a bonus.
And then he remembered, with a wave of relief, that he had not told his dad that he had travelled on a private executive jet weighing 25 tons from Paris, a distance of about 1000 miles – alone.