We Can Work It Out

Brace yourself…I’ve been doing some soul-searching.  Cutting to the chase: I have one. It’s flawed, but I have one.

I’ll spare you the details.  99.9% is none of your business anyway but, being the professional writer that I am, I will somehow circle back and make it relevant for you nonetheless.  I’ll bet you it will almost become meme-worthy, and you’ll be able to derive enough tidbits to cherry-pick bon mots to imprint on t-shirts and coffee mugs and make lots of money at my expense.

No…that’s probably not how I plan on tying this piece into a promotional industry column.  Unless, as it turns out, there is no other connection. Then…it’s just what I had in mind.

As I wrote in the first paragraph, I’m flawed.  I know that may shock some of you and disappoint others, but it’s the truth.  In my time, I have driven faster than the speed limit, and have also not completely come to a full stop at some intersections.  I have removed the tags off pillows knowing I shouldn’t. I have used content from baseball games without the expressed written consent from Major League Baseball, and have snuck down to better seats at games.  I have some bootleg Grateful Dead recordings in my collection but hell…who doesn’t?

I’m not perfect.  I know that. I never claimed to be.  I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I was…or thought I was.  All I can do is the best I can, and as often as I can.

One internet-worthy statement (I know it is, as I got it from there) goes something like this: Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.  That’s a pretty good example to follow. Do I? I guess not…not enough, at any rate. In fairness, who does? Doesn’t matter…this isn’t about you anyway.

You screw up?  Own it. It’s the best and smartest thing to do.  Rip the bandage off and start healing.

Many years ago I worked for a very cheap pen company.  I know I’ve mentioned them before (and not by name, even though they no longer exist), stating that by “cheap” I wasn’t referring to the quality of their product (which, in retrospect, would have been accurate nonetheless).  Very early in my tenure, I misquoted on a project. In that I was new there, the easiest thing would have been for me to say that it was a rookie mistake, I wasn’t properly trained, and that’s that. But no…I remember telling the owner (a scary, mean person by all standards, who didn’t like disappointments) that I’d screwed up.  I did it.  Me.  I explained the situation but stopped short of making excuses.  I. Screwed. Up. Period.

And this person…the owner of the company…looked at me as I stated what happened, and said something to the effect of, “That’s okay.  And I’m impressed that you told me about it”. Completely out of character, but s/he was pleased to see the integrity that I showed that day.

I would like to say that was a turning point in our relationship, but I have too much integrity for that.  This truly was a most unpleasant person, with whom I parted ways shortly after that.

My point is that I owned my error.  You can’t move forward unless and until that’s been established.

And we’ve all been party to behavior like this.  Lie to yourself all you want, but you know that there are times that it’s easier to just pass the buck than it is to admit to a failure or a shortcoming.  

To that end, I’m certainly guilty.  I stated that at the very beginning: I’m flawed.  I’m not proud of it. There have been instances where I’ve been flat-out ashamed of my actions.  Remorseful? Yeah…add that to the list.

What about you?  Think about that order you were working on last week…the one where nothing went right.  Who was responsible? The vendor? The client? What about you?  Is it even remotely possible that you didn’t cross all the I’s and dot the T’s?  Look in that mirror every now and again.

(A grammarian sidebar here: the apostrophes shown after the “I” and “T” in the previous paragraph offend me to no end, but it seems to be common practice.  It turns out I’m as common as the next person.)

Not all screw-ups have to be fatal.  There needs to be a willingness to work out the problem.  You can’t move forward without honesty. I try…every day…and I’ll try even more tomorrow.  Perfection is highly unlikely, but it’s as good a target as any.

Communicate.  Talk (or write) openly and honestly.  Get to the crux of the issue and start the recovery process.  As the philosopher, Lennon stated, “Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend”.  We can, and should, work it out.

Mike Schenker, MAS, is “all that” at Mike Schenker, Consulting, where he assists businesses entering the promotional products industry, mentors professionals, and offers association management.  He is a promotional industry veteran and member of the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) Hall of Fame. He can be reached at mike@mikeschenker.com.