A while back (a LONG while) my boss gave me my annual review. It went well and I got a small raise – like a 5% raise, which amounted to a laughable increase in my gross paycheck. I think it even put me into a higher tax bracket, so my net pay was even less. But I was happy and appreciative.
One of the comments he made was “We want keep you here because you keep calm event when you are up to your ass in alligators.” He gave some examples of when things fell to shit, and I dealt with it, resolved the situation, and moved on without an issue. Being in my early 20’s at the time I took his statement as a compliment. I wanted to be the go-to guy. Thank you. Yes, I find it helpful to not get overwhelmed by a situation and to figure out a solution. I still do.
But not in the same way. Thinking back on that now, after many more jobs and a bit more life experience, I have a different reaction. Now I ask: Why is this important? Are we expecting to have a lot more alligators? In all the situations that you used as examples, it was a cluster fuck of people’s mistakes that I was able to triage, understand, and resolve in a beneficial way, sometimes using unorthodox possibly risk-infused strategies BUT THERE WERE ALLIGATORS.
Is this the way we are going to continue to work? Are we not going to address the issues that created these ponds of alligators? Or will you continue to hold open the sluice gate that connects our reservoir of sanctuary to the swamp of anarchy? Wouldn’t it make more sense to prevent the alligator onslaught, and not rely on staffing a Steve Irwin to wrangle the situation back into shape? Maybe even ask why the hell someone built a pond WITH A SLUICE GATE next to a swamp full of alligators in the first place.
Bottom line, I still want to be the go to guy. I still like to fix things and wrestle alligators. But I also put much more attention on understanding where they came from, and how to keep it from happening again. I try to understand the system and uncover the critical points that cause chaos and anarchy. With that, I can establish controls to prevent our wonderful waterhole from becoming Gomek’s party pond.
Of course over the years some bosses (and girlfriends, friends, servers, convenience store cashiers, etc.) haven’t quite embraced my perspective, but that’s a different story. I’m looking into therapy.
P.S. Release the Epstein files.
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