Does this kind of thing happen in your company?

keep in mind while you read, this is not a hypothetical..

The conference room was filled to capacity and all the big shots were seated on the sides to watch the proceedings. Mickowitsky started to make his presentation and went on with charts and stats all over the place. near the end, he wanted to make his final conclusion stick in the minds of everyone… so he called on Joseph – who was hired four weeks previously as production manager – to agree with him ! Joseph, had vast experience in the field of dentistry, and knew the numbers were wrong and the presentation was completely bogus. it was tough to contradict the man trusted to charter the direction of the whole company. Joseph tried to be polite, “Sir you explained it very well, but you did not mention anything about Zirconia” for a few seconds there was dead silence, until the “Mick” laughed it off reminding everyone who is the boss.. “of course I am aware of that but this is immaterial to our goals here”

Joseph had earned himself an enemy for life. many months later, Moshe walked into the production room with a big smile, “Joseph, the numbers came in.. we have a success rate of 96%.. can you imagine? we even examined the few failed case and found that they were failures at the source and not at production… despite the crap being thrown at us from every direction, we were able to process it successfully”

Joseph was not ready to celebrate yet, so he asked, “how about the case of Belinda and Belinda?” so Moshe replied, “never mind this case, we have re-affirmed the decision of management that we at production cannot make any alteration on our own. we are bound to deliver cases based on the records given to us”

Joseph persisted, “But my friend, I could have easily corrected the error and the case would have been a resounding success”

“We do not make the rules Joseph, we only follow them”

it was almost a year later when Mr. Mickowitsky walked into Joseph’s new tiny office beamingly saying, “OK, now that I have been made general manager, I promise to make your life miserable here… I suggest you start looking for a different place”

Joseph answered confidently, “I am no longer the production manager, thanks to you appointing this brainless creature in my place, but I am still the chief digital dental analyst of all cases, you have nobody who can do a fraction of what I do… I actually created this department and I am in the process of creating another highly specialized department to look into final products analysis… “

But the Mick was ready with the answer, “Oh yeah… do you remember the case of Belinda and Belinda ? this will stay on your record forever.. Do not say I did not warn you” and he walked out.

               At the time the vice president was terminating Joseph he said, “Sorry Joseph but the stats show that the product success rate has declined from 96% when you were doing all the wok by yourself, to 45% now even though we have nine other members in your department. we have to let you go”

Joseph answered, ” don’t you see, now I do not do all the digital analysis myself.. you have hired inexperienced, incompetent people to do a highly sophisticated job requiring very specialized skills and experience… for God’s sake, you even hired a girl who never knew what a dental prep looks like just because her boy friend is the manager in another department!!”

the V.P. replied, “It is not up to me as you know.. But..”

Joseph cut him off, “I understand.. you do not have to explain”

“one more thing Joseph, your severance pay, has been tied to your signing a letter that you shall not at any point in the future sue the company for discrimination or any other reason.. so please sign this letter to make things easy for yourself”

“Sir, I will not sign such a letter even if it means losing my severance pay. I do not plan to sue this company or any other. the company hires hundreds of people… and their families depend on that pay check, suing the company will only hurt all these good innocent people.”

               NOW, if this resembles anything you encounter in your company, you must know it is not unusual.. it is this kind of behavior… cronyism .. or nepotism … and entrenched ignorance at the upper echelons of any company that are at the center of its undoing… a company like the one mentioned here (all names had been changed for obvious reasons) was at the pinnacle of its industry… brilliant people were involved in founding it and it had at least a generation leap ahead of any competition… the character called Joseph here, had tried to explain the numerous advantages and the spectacular potential that company had, but he was dismissed at the very point when the company was ready to make its mark on the global market. instead, the company withered, shriveled, and was swallowed by another company which used its product for a completely mundane purpose… while other companies caught up and even succeeded to take over the mantle of progress of that field of dentistry.

               Can you figure out what went wrong? a disengaged management ? personal vendettas ? ignorance at the HR level ? all of the above ?

Hiring, a DEVOTED, EXPERIENCED AND BALANCED right person for the job, is difficult, but it is imperative for success, regardless of the cost.