Better to stand alone than walk with wrong people
AN IMPORTANT ‘MANTRA’ FOR EMPLOYEES
Johnathan was an excellent human resource (HR) executive and was known for being very self-confident and creative as well.
After a year, due to his positive attitude and exceptional abilities, he was promoted to the post of HR manager.
He was empowered with the responsibility of heading the entire team of HR executives and together they would have to look after three hundred employees. Initially, all was going well but then things began to take a turn for the negative.
Johnathan had become a part of a team of other managers and senior managers from other departments.
During lunch breaks all these managers would sit together to have their lunch, and then a few of them would go outside the office premise to take a casual walk. It was during these walks that something happened which wasn’t particularly positive for Johnathan.
Every time these few managers along with Johnathan would go out for their walk, some of them would start gossiping about their respective bosses, about the chief executive officer, and a lot of bad things about the organisation itself.
“You know Johnathan, my boss is a big zero. He doesn’t know anything about our products or services. I have to teach him everything. Add to this, he has so much ego and aggression. I really don’t feel like working here,” the manager said.
“Hey Johnathan, I think your boss is just like mine. I have seen the manner in which he rudely speaks at meetings. Sometimes I feel that these people don’t have any professional qualities. They want us to do the hard work and then take all the credit for themselves.”
That evening Johnathan very upset and demotivated. He was feeling negative about his work and started to think negative about his boss.
Somehow, the conversations he was having with some of these managers during the walk had transformed his thinking and attitude from positive to very negative, so much so that his own behavior towards his subordinates and his boss had become negative.
Those interactions he had during the walks had influenced his attitude in a very pessimistic way. For many weeks, the casual walks and along with that the negative conversations continued, and there came time when Johnathan made up his mind to resign and that is because those few managers had filled his mind with a lot of negativity about the CEO and the organisation.
He felt the best thing was to look for better opportunities.
When his boss saw the resignation letter he was shocked. “What happened to you Johnathan? Why have you made this decision to leave all of a sudden? If there were any issues or complaints, was you could have talked to me!” He said in a disappointed tone. “Well, before I accept your resignation letter you need to know something. I have just returned from my meeting with our general manager.
“We had selected you along with two other executives from your team to travel to Germany as our special representatives to attend a business conference and then immediately you were to attend another seminar on leadership skills training in France.
“You were specially selected because of your past achievements and your overall performance. “You could have truly benefited from all this. I was just about to write an email to you and then personally share it in our departmental meeting this afternoon. “It is unfortunate that rather than me sharing the news first, you have shared your decision to resign with me.
“As your superior and your past mentor I want to give you some time to re-evaluate your decision. “If you still want to resign I will not stop you but I want you to let me know your final decision by tomorrow morning as I will have to find a replacement for you in case you stick to your decision.
“Dear Johnathan, when you introspect this evening, think about all the positives and the negatives and only then make your final decision.”
These words from his boss were truly impacting for Johnathan. That night he sat and continuously kept thinking about everything that had happened since his promotion and that is when he recognised something.
He had a painful and yet an enlightening realisation that all the time he spent in the ‘walks’ with some of the other managers had almost completely corrupted his positive and vibrant mind.
“I have walked with the wrong people,” he spontaneously whispered to himself and he was right. It was only when he was alone and introspecting with himself that he had become clear of what the right thing was.
The next day, he met his boss and retracted his resignation. He told his boss everything and that is when he said to Johnathan, “Please remember, it is always better to stand alone than to walk with the wrong people”.
I am sure we too can learn a lesson or two from this!