I made another mistake…..this is a big mistake…..I’m supposed to be on a vacation….since we don’t travel much, my vacations consist of staying at home, laying around…visiting and generally doing things I otherwise have no time to do…but the mistake I made was checking emails at the office and not staying away.  I checked my emails yesterday..and I need to discipline myself to stay away.

Now, I openly acknowledge I can be grouchy hence the name of this blog…and sometimes shortsighted…I acknowledge also that I have a tendency to overreact sometimes to certain phraseology that I perceive to be challenges to my decisions when they are my decisions to make….or worse, criticisms.  I also know that I am a reactor more times than a responder….something I can work on for sure.

Yet, I think of all the bosses I have worked for over the years…and wonder how they may respond to some of the communications I receive….and overall, reactions former bosses would have to situations I deal with would’ve and have been far more straightforward and politically incorrect than the reactions I regularly dole out….so I give myself a C in that regard..somewhere in the middle.

I acknowledge all these things because I wish to frame my thoughts in terms that are sure to communicate an understanding that I fail to see perfection in myself as much as I fail to see perfection in others….and when one takes that position, it tends to muddy the waters and make reasoning quite challenging…especially in business.  It means no matter what I say or do, I could be wrong…but then so could the other party….

Why?  Everyone has an opinion, and from their perspective their opinion makes completely good sense…..so a man or woman who for example is responsible for selling marbles on commission may sometimes only see the world in relation to how the selling of those marbles may affect them personally…. and yet a  person who is responsible for seeing to it that many people are selling marbles at the same time would naturally see the selling of marbles from an entirely different perspective…

Naturally, conflict and disagreement can result from decisions made by the latter as they may affect the former in the quest for success as they define success….

And such was the case on two fronts yesterday….as I exercised my authority in disagreement with others in our fine little organization over the figurative selling of marbles and servicing of marble customers….conflict arose….and I am one to rise quickly to conflict…(another of my many human frailties)…

So, while my reaction and perhaps one might suggest (and did) overreaction to unsolicited viewpoints and criticisms it occurs to me that while imperfect, it is the perspective with which I make my decisions that are most important…..and it is the role that I play in our little soap opera of day to day insurance sales, service and management.

Perspective, when based on the overall good of everyone, and the overall health of the organization bares no bias towards one with human frailties……giver or responder.

I gotta go check my email……