Eleven

Not More of This!

My probation is coming to an end soon,” a triumphant Bob announced to his wife the minute he walked through the door.

“Wonderful!” she exclaimed as she began to smother him with hugs and kisses. “When will you know?”

It occurred to Bob that he couldn’t answer that question. “I’m not sure. I have my last assignment, so the CEO must think I’m ready to ‘graduate.’ ”

 

Bob and his family enjoyed dinner and conversation together. At about 9:30 P.M., he said good night to the kids and headed for his study. He opened the envelope. Pretty straightforward, he thought to himself as he surveyed the cover page. It read:

Answering the following questions is optional. The CEO welcomes the opportunity to review and discuss your answers with you, but you are under no obligation to do so. You might want to save your responses and refer to them in the future.

Strange, Bob thought. He studied the second page. It contained several questions, preceded by these words:

Please take the time to answer these questions before you come to the CEO’s office for your appointment tomorrow. Doing so will help you apply the Three P’s in your life and career.

Bob was mightily tempted to ignore this part of The Process—since he didn’t have to turn in these pages anyway. Oh, wait! he thought. If I don’t do this, that means I don’t have much commitment, and that would make me a last-minute manager.

Bob searched for a pen that worked, finally found one, and began to answer each question thoughtfully.

1. Describe your priorities as you perceive them to be at this moment.
2. How committed are you to those priorities?
3. What do you personally believe to be the most important aspect of propriety?
   • Do the right thing?
   • Do it for the right reasons?
   • Do it with the right people?
   • Do it at the right time?
   • Do it in the right order?
   • Do it with intensity?
   • Do it for the right results?
4. Can you define your personal vision? What is your purpose/mission? What is your picture of the future?
5. What are your most important values?
6. How committed are you to those values?
7. What are your short-term goals?
8. How about your long-term goals?
9. When it comes to integrity:
   • Are you committed to the truth?
   • Are you true to yourself?
10. Are you willing to follow through on your commitments?
    • No matter what the ultimate cost?
    • No matter what the potential consequences?

When he had finished answering the last question, Bob reviewed his answers. There’s no way I’m going to turn in this questionnaire, Bob thought. I need to keep this handy, as my reminder of what I’m going to be all about!

 

When he walked into the CEO’s office, Bob’s first impulse was to say, “Yo! Bob the On-Time, On-Target Manager reporting for duty!” But he successfully fought off that impulse.

“Did you complete the questionnaire?” the CEO asked.

“Sure did,” was Bob’s confident reply.

“And?”

“I’m going to keep this as a personal reminder, but I do want to discuss my answers with you,” Bob the Committed to a New Way of Doing Things Manager responded.

They spent a few minutes going over Bob’s questionnaire, and it was obvious that the CEO was impressed by Bob’s answers. As their meeting came to a close, she congratulated him on his hard work and assured him he was doing well.

Big brothers can be wrong sometimes, the CEO thought to herself as Bob walked out the door.