December 14, 2007

“His comments have been consistently wrong.  In fact, they’re downright stupid.”

“True, but you have to admire that he can be clueless with such condescension.”

Many of us have had the pleasure of working on large proposals.  With proposals come all sorts or reviews:  black hats, pink teams, red teams, blue teams, gold teams, risk assessments, financial reviews, and so on.  The effectiveness of these reviews, like most things we do, depends in large part on the quality of people on the review team.

During one of many proposals that have come and gone through the years, our new company president decided that he wanted to be part of a red team.  We had watched him once in front of our prospective customer and his performance was dismal.  His part in a formal presentation consisted of about two minutes worth of providing an executive commitment to the deal.  As he stood to speak, we saw the 3 x 5 cards come out of his jacket.  It was difficult to make eye contact with anyone in the room as he stumbled through the longest two minutes most of us had ever experienced.  Somehow, in spite of his laying an egg in front of the prospect, we were selected to submit a final proposal.

Buoyed by what he now thought was a grand performance, our president decided to insert himself in the final throes of the proposal by participating on the red team.  Dissension among the team members was difficult to control.  Time was short.  No one wanted to be subjected to his critical, non-value added view.  The afternoon arrived for red team comments.  Eyes were rolling before he even sat down in his chair.  He quickly took over the agenda and began making ridiculous and off-the-mark comments based on his “20,000 foot review” of the document.  We could not have scripted a more pitiful scene as he droned on, wasting the precious time of a team with a deadline.  His arrogance was now controlling whatever modicum of business sense he possessed. 

Typical of moments like this, humor took over.  I heard the proposal manager whisper to one of the solution engineers seated next to her, “His comments have been consistently wrong.  In fact, they’re downright stupid.”

The reply was instantaneous:  “True, but you have to admire that he can be clueless with such condescension.”  I bit my lip to keep from smiling and duly recorded the quote.

We should always be in the habit of treating others with esteem and high regard.  Our opinions are more readily received when offered with respect.  In this experience, the president’s hauteur served to do nothing but exacerbate his falderal.  All of us need to be cut some slack from time to time.  Some need more clearance than others. 

Proffering respect generally yields the leeway we need.