November 16, 2007

“Dad, Jay and I have been wondering, exactly who voted for this award?”

Several years ago, I was asked, as is sometimes the case, to speak at a national sales conference for a company with whom I had done quite a bit of business.  After finding my assigned dinner seat in the large conference center, I introduced myself to seven other people I had never had the pleasure of meeting prior to that evening.  It was my good fortune to be assigned to sit at their table while they had the misfortune of drawing my name to be with them.  We enjoyed a good meal and very pleasant conversation.

About halfway through the dinner, a gentleman seated next to me shared with us that he had recently been recognized as “Father of the Year” in his community.  All of us at the table commented on the accomplishment and extended our congratulations.  Immediately thereafter, he shared some of the details surrounding the afternoon that he received the phone call letting him know that he had been selected for the honor.

The congratulatory call came while he was at work.  He called his wife to share the good news.  Upon his arrival home that evening, he was greeted to a hero’s welcome.  His two daughters and wife hugged him, kissed him, cried out shrieks of every kind, and rolled out the proverbial red carpet.  The newly announced “Father of the Year” then noticed his two sons seated at the kitchen counter, totally unfazed by the homecoming of their celebrity dad.  His oldest son deadpanned, “Dad, Jay and I have been wondering, exactly who voted for this award?”

And so it is.  We’re never nearly as good as we think we are.  Then again, we’re also never nearly as bad as we might sometimes feel.