Friday, March 02, 2007

I (should have) Did It My Way



Been down to Sydney, to Mossman actually which is one of those area’s where average run-of-the-mill tiny little lots sell for 1.1 million…for that you get an average house and a spectacular view across the harbour to the city. You can’t quite see the opera house from there though, that costs more like ten million.

W e went to tour yet another factory and it has become clear my boss is going to keep this up until SOMEBODY says they do things the way he’s convinced we should….because so far everybody has been saying what I’ve been saying, but what do I know. They didn’t listen to me at my last place either and I respected that, it is their business after all, but since I didn’t want to be a puppet manager of a crashing business, I quit. They went under four months later.

There’s nothing worse* than doing it somebody else’s way and then getting blamed when it doesn’t work. I like to be 100% responsible for my fuck-ups.

When you take bad advice, it’s still YOUR name on the job, YOU chose to take the advice and if it goes wrong what can you do? Either take the heat yet not be able to explain the thinking behind it (because it wasn’t yours) or throw the blame back on the other guy thus making both of you look stupid and further giving you a reputation for shirking responsibility.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t take good advice (and give credit where due), but if in doubt, do it your way every time.

That’s how you get a view of the Opera House.

*there are probaly several things worse, it's a figure of speech you ultra-literally minded Aussies. This is why you don't listen, too caught up in the minutia.

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