Page 105 - The Voice of Authority

The manager who espouses an open-door policy—
but then beheads the bearer of bad news and termi-
nates dissenters
The manager who says empowerment is the key to
staying close to the customer—but then requires five
approval signatures for a $500 refund
The executive who freezes raises because money is
tight—but renovates the East Wing and adds an ex-
ecutive garage

Double-Check the Details

Last spring, we hired a 23-year-old college graduate with
a 3.5 GPA as an administrative assistant. Molly (name
changed to protect the naïve) impressed us during the in-
terview process and insisted that she really wanted the job
in her field of communication. Because business and tech-
nical writing is part of our course offerings to corporate
clients, we pointed out to her that all our employees need
to proofread everything carefully when communicating
with clients because they notice errors and sometimes like
to play “gotcha.”
Molly proved to be a fast learner on all the software and
procedures. Other than giving her a little help with punc-
tuation, her supervisor considered Molly to be mastering
the job quite well.
Imagine our surprise when Molly walked in on day nine
and resigned: “I just don’t think this job is a good fit. Com-
mas, semicolons, spelling, typos. Those kinds of things just
aren’t all that important to me. They just don’t matter.”
If you sell shoes for a living, they probably don’t. But if
you’re a knowledge worker, words are the commerce of
ideas.

Is It Consistent? 93