Profane and bearded, he smoked cigars amid a tight-lipped management team that ate oatmeal every morning and played racquetball at lunch. If he thought you were deceptive or incompetent, he told you straight-out and didn't care if you were offended.
They kept him around for two reasons: he was very good at what he did and he amused them. You could tell that they enjoyed his insults. They especially appreciated his aim when he turned it on one of their colleagues and said what the rest of them had longed to say. They'd shake their heads and say, "He's a wild man."
The Wild Man was exiled for years - tucked away in a narrow assignment in a department that could be safely ignored - but one day they brought him up to the top floor and asked him to take a special assignment. One of their safer choices had turned out to be "a disappointment." You could see his eyes sparkle at that one. "You don't need to explain," he said. "I've met him. He's dumber than a box of rocks. Which one of you geniuses put him in that job?"
A few of the interns studied the carpet and tried not to laugh. The CEO winced before telling The Wild Man that they were tired of playing it safe. They wanted someone to shake up the troubled department. They needed a turn-around artist.
As expected, there was some wrangling over money, but the assignment was accepted and eventually every expectation was fulfilled. Around two years later, The Wild Man wasn't surprised at all when he was sent back to his old job.
"The old man did the right thing," he said through a cloud of cigar smoke. "I'm damned good. You'll find no false modesty here. But in certain climates, I have a very short shelf-life. They'll call on me again."
2 comments:
Great post, Michael. Some Wild Men and Women do well and stay in the corporate world, which keeps them in a box with "Break glass in case of emergency" clearly marked on the outside. Some get marginalized. The FBI used to send what a bureau friend of mine called "truth tellers" to distant, unexciting postings, Butte, Montana was a favorite. Smart leaders, though, keep them around. One friend of our family founded what is now a large personal-care company. He kept an old friend who had started out with him around to tell him the truth. I was there one day when Andy was called to the office. He walked in, sat down in a seat in the "conversation area," threw one leg over the arm of a very expensive chair and said, "OK, do you want the truth or do you want support?" The president looked at me with a big smile and said, "He always asks me that."
Wally,
"Do you want the truth or do you want support?"
What a great line!
Thanks!
Post a Comment