I had and still have to a lesser extent a trait that generally doesn’t pay dividends in the working world – a need to please everyone. It was quite a burden. I’d go home feeling horrible because one of my co-workers was unhappy with a professional decision I’d made.
Then I gained a little insight from my boss [first job] at the time. He told a parable which I still consult in all of my financial decisions. I’ll give you a back story about this particular boss. He was cool. I mean that in every sense of the word. This is coming from a sheltered egghead. He rode a Harley. He had a ponytail. He brought his dog to work. He told crazy stories about his biker buddies. Most of the stories even if conservatively rated would be X. I’d tack on another of X’s couple just to be safe. He had more attractive female acquaintances than any guy I know. He spent his hours just doing whatever when the rest of us were working. Occasionally, he’d let us set up networking games and play on the company network. I remember the sessions of Quake that were pretty awesome[1].
The parable he told was this. He used to be a supervisor at a very big semiconductor company. He had a number of subordinates under him. He, being the awesome and cool guy that he was, had very close relationships with his subordinates. They socialized together on the weekends. There was a married couple, both of whom worked under him as subordinates. One day a mandate comes from on-high that there was to be a downsizing. I never really got the full story on the aspect regarding who was to go, but it came down that the couple who was working under him were among the many to be laid-off. I can imagine that a family, where only one income just vanished, would be under some duress. A family where all the income just vanished would be apocalyptic. My then boss described the scene to me when he had to tell these two individuals at the same time that he had to let them go. The scene described to me is still as clear in my mind as the day he told it. There he was tears welling in his eyes having to tell them that they’ve both just been laid-off. There they were tears streaming begging him not to do this. How could he do this to them knowing that he was putting them in the worst financial strait possible?
Initially, what I took away from this was the shock. How can one do this to a close friend? I would say this would be a typical reaction. As I’ve [cough] . . . matured, I’ve begun to see the nuances in this parable. The higher one’s position in life the more difficult the decisions one must make. But, the gains received when the best [or the lesser of the bad] option is decided upon have very far reaching consequences. I’ve come to understand that sometimes the best we can do is to inflict the least harm. What remains is to face the consequences. In the case of my boss, he lost some very close friends.[2]
Note [1]: Just so you don’t conjure up some image of me as a buffoon without any redeeming professional qualities, I will say that the Quake sessions happened during one of the low points in the company history. We were going through an acquisition and the sales force not knowing how they were making their commissions didn’t sell until this little question was cleared up. Thus, we were just milling around until corporate sorted this out. Hence, the interoffice Quake tournaments. And they were AWESOME tournaments!
Note [2]: You may think I sound callous when I philosophize about the grander scheme. “Grand schemes are great in the long term, but in the short term a family just lost their entire means of livelihood.” That’s what you’re thinking, right? I accept that argument, but I believe that decision based on thinking long and far solves many more problems than they create, whereas decisions based only on the immediate creates other problems that can’t be solve easily once far enough along. Make the hard decisions as early as possible.