At our company's Annual General Meeting, I was shocked to hear one presenter explain that he had been looking for speeches which would be appropriate to end the opening of the meeting and had actually considered the "I have a dream" speech from Martin Luther King. To think that anything so basic as a company could be compared to the Human Rights movement is incredible.
A more appropriate quotation from MLK came up from a great film I just saw, "Talk to Me".
"The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and of convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and of controversy."
In the last months, the people in our company faced the biggest moments of challenge and controversy that I can remember. When put under pressure, people's true character comes out. We now know who is able to handle convenience and comfort only, and who is able to handle challenge and controversy - we know certain people's character much better.
That knowledge is unfortunately not so helpful, because it has caused us to lose trust in certain people. On the other hand, better to know now who you can trust and who you have to be careful with.
A more appropriate quotation from MLK came up from a great film I just saw, "Talk to Me".
"The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and of convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and of controversy."
In the last months, the people in our company faced the biggest moments of challenge and controversy that I can remember. When put under pressure, people's true character comes out. We now know who is able to handle convenience and comfort only, and who is able to handle challenge and controversy - we know certain people's character much better.
That knowledge is unfortunately not so helpful, because it has caused us to lose trust in certain people. On the other hand, better to know now who you can trust and who you have to be careful with.
It's good that the conclusion has come, and people can get to the next stage. They can stop putting the energy into the discussion about whether the decision itself is right, and turn their energy to the future and how to handle the consequences of the decision.
The strangest thing about the whole episode of re-location has been this. The issue is not with the decision itself, but the way it had been handled. The fact that people's lives have been disrupted is not the issue - people are able to take business decisions like adults, they know the world is changing around them. But when they are treated like children and given illogical reasons & unclear information, and they receive a blank face and a "we'll come back to you" when they ask questions - then they get angry.
It's all about how you react when the challenge and controversy comes. Those times tell you everything about the person you are dealing with.
