Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Learning by Osmosis


Well, I'm glad to see all of you here this morning. For those who are new to the organization, I'm a member of the executive team. Tom there in the back row just smiled. He remembers when I was just starting out so please don't believe a word he says.

Anyway, I'm here to kick off this session because the topic is so important. The CEO meant to be here but some things came up and so he grabbed me as I walked by his door and said, "Get on down there and tell them this is darned important training." Only he didn't say "darned."

Now I understand that this program is going to get into a number of problems that we hope to avoid at our company. Look around and you'll see a mixture of managers and supervisors. You all are the backbone of our team. You know that this group really runs the company. Those of us in the executive suites are just sort of along for the ride but don't let that word get out.

I'm going to have to leave but before I head upstairs I'd like you to feel free to hit me with any questions. Oh, there's one over near the coffee. Okay, I'll repeat the question. His question was, "If this training is so important, why aren't any of the executives here?"

That's a good one. I guess the answer is that we - the executives, that is - have such ridiculous schedules that we have to rely upon you all covering for us when it comes to this topic. It's not that we don't regard it as important. It's just that we have to balance our priorities. Next question?

Did you all hear that one? Yes, I believe you also have priorities to balance and it may be that you're right, the execs should be here. Perhaps you can teach old dogs new tricks. So I'll be sure to pass that along to the CEO.

And now, without further comment, I'll hand this over to your speaker.

Have a great class!

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