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"Jack, can I see you right away?" It was Sandra's voice on the telephone and she sounded shaky.
"I've got a one o'clock meeting. It shouldn't take more than an hour. Can I call you then?"
An audible sigh, "Okay."
It couldn't wait. Jack knew that instinctively. "Want to grab a bite of lunch with me? It's got to be in the cafeteria, but we could find a quiet table. You don't have much time to decide. I'm leaving right now."
He could hear the smile in her voice. "See you there. And Jack, thanks."
She was sitting at a table in the corner with only a glass of water and an apple in front of her.
"Is that your normal lunch?" he asked. "Keep this up and you'll blow away before I finish the book."
"I just couldn't eat now, Jack. The apple is for later."
"What's on your mind?"
"I just had a performance review with Bill. It was awful. I don't know if I should pack my bags now or not."
"Please don't. It's only been two weeks since you read Chapter One. Do you want to tell me what he said?"
"He basically sees me as average. Average! After all my long hours and hard work! I felt like crying -- or throwing his desk at him. He says I understand my job and I do that well, but I don't have the big picture. We had quite a disagreement about that. I think I reacted pretty strongly because I was so taken aback by what he said. And at the end of it, well, he told me I should lighten up."
"Don't pack your bags. Average is not what you are, but clearly, it's Bill's perception of you. And since you didn't cry or throw the desk at him, you can put that in the win column. Look, Sandra, you're angry and you need time to think about this. I'd like to give you the next piece of the story. It touches on feedback and perceptions. Maybe it will help. Then, when you've finished it, we could get together and strategize a bit. What do you say?"
"I'm willing to do anything that will help."
"And, Sandra, don't think this is the end of the world. Early in my career I had a similar episode with a supervisor. He saw me as creative but undisciplined. He felt that I let things slip if I didn't find them important. He said I was unfocused and a few other things that escape me. My first reaction was just like yours. I wanted to leap over the desk and -- My career was over! I thought of quitting. Why hang around and die slowly.
"I talked with Carla about it. You remember Carla. She's the person who coached me when I first came to PWE. Anyway, I stormed into her office, shut the door and unloaded. She listened and then she told me a similar story about an appraisal someone gave her. Then she added, The funny thing about it was, when I thought it over later, I could see some truth in what my supervisor said. I didn't like to hear it, and I didn't particularly like the way he said it, but he was right. The most important thing, she said, is not to attack the messenger because then, the messages stop, or they get couched in such ambiguous language that they're indecipherable. Get what I mean?"
"So that's why you say it's a good thing I didn't throw the desk at Bill."
"Right!" He looked at his watch. "Gotta run.
Will you come by at two or would you rather I brought the chapter
to your office?"
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