Page 77 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Relationships

Ed Rensi expressed it this way: “Everything I learned, I
learned from somebody else.” And he looked at his people holis-
tically. “I was tolerant of someone’s buckets of weaknesses as
long as I could maximize on their strengths.”
In finding my own backup, I sought those with the ability to
hit me with the tough criticism that I needed to do my job well.
As Fred put it: “If we all agree all of the time, one of us is unnec-
essary.” But I had to do my part too, and put my own ego aside
so I could really listen and understand their perspective. Fred
describes this as “having your ears on,” and he’s right. You have
to be a deep listener.

Lesson Learned

Seek out and develop a network of individuals who you can
rely on for good feedback and advice. Don’t react, don’t be 47
defensive . . . listen.
Be in the present.

Jesters and Conflicts
That’s not to say that the organization didn’t have its share of
“court jesters” who rallied around a leader, buttered up the boss,
and harped on all that was favorable to earn their place in his
or her eyes. I think that most of us can relate to someone in an
organization who exhibits these behaviors, which often result in
jealousies, ill will, and a waste of time and energy. Such behav-
ior goes on in most organizations, and it’s something that man-
agement should be aware of. As Mike Quinlan put it, “You have
to be careful though that you don’t develop pets.”
To me, it was troubling at times how often leadership did not
see these situations for what they really were and the negative
morale that developed when this was allowed to happen. Like