We spent a modest amount of time in the ER this year, mainly for Mother-in-law. There are certain patterns in troubleshooting. It doesn’t matter if its computers or a medical issue, you have to get the right data to the right person at the right time. The ER doctor was nice but he wouldn’t listen at first. He was stuck on a most-likely diagnosis guess. It was a good guess, it just was wrong and he wouldn’t listen at first. Once they ruled-out appendicitis, I could see him thinking about what to look for next and then I could tell him the information I had that he didn’t listen to before. They eventually got a surgeon in the room and I could give him all the data because he was listening and could do something with it.
The company I worked for was acquired and now we are part of a very large company. I’ve worked for big companies before and now I understand some of the patterns I’ve seen a bit better. Managers are optimizers, they’ll take an existing process and hone it to a mirror shine. The only thing is they often don’t know if the process is a good one or not and don’t want to know because their paycheck depends on them not rocking the boat but boy howdy the knives come out when something rocks their boat. Organizations that are managed but not lead are not going to last.
There are lots of memes about 2 kinds of people. I don’t see it that way. I worked at a call center and there were several distinct groups. Among the workers were: students who just needed to make money for the semester; lifers, who were people that were resigned to what the job had to offer (not much); and rebuilders, people who took the job to try and rebuild their life after a significant setback. Among management were those that were following policy to the letter without thinking about it, others tried to balance policy with empathy and others were completely power-tripping.
An incident often reveals what people are like. The incident needs to be big enough to rock the boat but doesn’t have to be a huge disaster. Some people will panic, they may freeze or make the situation worse. Some people will fortify, protecting themselves at all costs. Others are like the people that Mr. Rogers talks about, they are helpers and help others even at cost to themselves. Still others are leaders who step up to the situation ignoring things that don’t work and find a way to make things right.
Tl;dr avoid assholes, gather helpers, avoid managers, find or become a leader
When it comes to life, scars are proof we did things. That we went out there into the arena and did something. That we stepped forth and made a stand for something.
We may not have conquered.
We may not have won.
We may not think we made a difference.
I tell you, you did make a difference.
You may not see the difference where you are but someone somewhere saw you and realized they too can make a go of it. Probably not right away but they are moved from inaction to action.
That makes all the difference.
Wear those scars proudly. It means that you survived and grew past what happened.
You know more about who you are then you did.
We may have been broken.
We may have given up hope.
But we stood fast
And we healed
And now we know
Wounds heal
Scars fade
And our spirits burn bright.