Or Get in the Way!: Adventures in Corporate America
()
About this ebook
Whether competing with rocket scientists as a fresh-faced junior engineer or dodging labor union threats during his executive years, Graham prevailed despite a personality assessment that considered him too quiet and not promotable. In his journey through corporate America, Dan was exposed to great leaders, poor leaders, and just about every other kind in between. Like many today, he faced anxiety over missed promotions, combative relationships, toxic management, and foolish corporate directives. He also came to realize the importance of luck in shaping a career.
Or Get in the Way! is a lighthearted look at corporate America’s leadership challenges through Dan Graham’s eyes. While much has changed over these last few years, many will catch a glimpse of the universal truths revealed in his corporate adventures. Enjoy this thinly veiled memoir, as we look in on Dan’s extended journey through a maze of jobs, humorous escapades, and—more importantly—life lessons still relevant today.
D. Charles Gossman
After a long career, concluded as a telecommunications industry executive, D. Charles Gossman is enjoying his second career as a college professor. He wrote and now teaches a series of management courses at a State College in Florida. Elected to Florida’s Telecommunications Industry Association Hall of Fame in 2007, he now resides with his wife in Palm Beach. He is also the author of Tales from the Oak Hammock and Occupying Force.
Related to Or Get in the Way!
Related ebooks
Job Be Damned: Work Less. Career Success. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Boss, Great Boss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlex - A Big Stretch Forward: A book for employees about how a business works to lay foundation for flexible work environments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNavigating Corporate Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShutting Up: Listening to Your Employees, Leading by Example, and Maximizing Productivity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings60-Minute CEO: Mastering Leadership an Hour at a Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Company You Keep: Leading and Managing in the Era of Shareholder Value Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Not to Manage People: The Leadership Mistakes Keeping Your Team from Greatness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Better Boss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat not to do in Business-Lessons Learned from Working at Crappy Companies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImpossible Bosses: Secret Strategies to Deal with 8 Archetypal Managers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Win Friends and Manage Remotely Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Workplace Engagement Solution: Find a Common Mission, Vision and Purpose with All of Today's Employees Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Survive the Boss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou can Replace the Jerk at the Top: A Guide to Success in Corporate America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsResumes That Sizzle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInterview 2018: Present Yourself Like a Pro Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Limits - The Secrets and Skills of Successful People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsManagement Traps: Signs Managers Miss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBurn Ladders. Build Bridges: Pursuing Work with Meaning + Purpose Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Out Above (Second Edition): The young professional's guide to success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Power of One: You're the Boss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Afternoon Mentor: Real World, Real Clear Advice on Landing and Leading a Life in Senior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Manage Your Manager: All the Credit, Half the Work Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Emotional Overdraft: 10 simple changes for balancing business success and wellbeing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings10 Commandments of Strategic Networking: How To 'Up Your Networking Game' With Career and Business-Building Results Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLow Hanging Fruit and Highly Placed Vegetables: Ripe or Rotten Leadership Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Time Boss: Essential Tools for Your New Leadership Role Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStop The Monkey Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
General Fiction For You
Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Things Like These (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King James Version of the Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One of Us Is Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related categories
Reviews for Or Get in the Way!
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Or Get in the Way! - D. Charles Gossman
Copyright © 2022 D. Charles Gossman.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by
any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue
in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
iUniverse
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.iuniverse.com
844-349-9409
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in
this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views
expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,
and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
ISBN: 978-1-6632-3700-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-3701-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4022-4 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022910026
iUniverse rev. date: 07/05/2022
CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 It’s Not Rocket Science
2 Twelve Ducks, One Tuck, and Three Squirrels
3 I Want This Fixed!
4 Babbling PUCs, Beepers, and Stickmen
5 A Broom, a Pumpkin, and a Bunny
6 A Buddy, a Wheelbarrow, and Two Meltdowns
7 The Top Ten Jobs List
8 A Chief, but Which Doctor?
9 The Whac-A-Mole Conspiracy
10 Seven Unruly Guests and a Fond Farewell
Index 1
Index 2
PREFACE
Haven’t we already identified all possible leadership concepts, documented them in popular management books, and put them on hundreds of shelves (or web sites) for any prospective manager to study? Haven’t we also developed entirely new management techniques while forcing ourselves to become experts at online meetings, remote teaching, and working from home using innovative internet apps? And doing all this while attempting to survive a multiyear pandemic featuring a Greek-alphabet soup of variants? These new challenges aren’t causing unexpected new management issues, are they? Well, maybe. But are the fundamental leadership tenets still the same? Well, maybe!
Dan Graham believed he was educated in modern management thought as a young college hire, but he soon found he had missed a few lessons along the way. Today, just when we think we have harvested all the insights from tomes like Blanchard’s One Minute Manager series or Goldratt’s The Goal (not to mention a thousand other popular books), we are suddenly confronted with pandemic-driven management issues that were never even considered by contemporary researchers! Scientists can develop vaccinations to thwart unwanted infections, but can we ever develop an inoculation to counter toxic management or contaminated leadership? Well, not yet.
As a new hire, Dan’s first supervisor warned him he could never excuse a poor performance by complaining that he was the victim of unenlightened leadership. Instead, he was goaded to greatness with the phrase Keep your nose clean and do a good job, and you’ll go right up in this company.
Back then, everyone knew there must be more to it than that—and there is more to it today as well, especially in these uncertain times. When your supervisors have only seen your two-dimensional image on a laptop screen and have never even occupied the same room, you just might have a tough time convincing them to check the box Promotable Now
next to your name.
These days, it is profoundly difficult to keep your career on that upward trajectory when you are relegated to remote video meetings. But that problem is not exactly a new one. We also observed it when late twentieth-century businesses implemented reengineering projects that fundamentally reorganized entire corporations. Dan Graham first saw this remote management dilemma when many supervisors suddenly found their employees relocated hundreds of miles away, and that was before the convenience of a half-dozen apps for video web meetings! Dan will forever remember the response his human resources department suggested when his subordinates complained their work locations were to be relocated hundreds of miles from their homes. We don’t tell you where to live. We just tell you where to report to work next Monday!
Successfully leading during those types of upheavals certainly made it easier to add nice entries on one’s resume, but there are many other factors that impact a career as well. In fact, one element we can never ignore is luck, and Dan was no stranger to that either. We can all acknowledge that competence and confidence are essential, but luck—that serendipitous notion that you must be in the right place at the right time—is often important for advancement too. Dan Graham’s corporate career featured several episodes that can only be described that way. Unfortunately, those events were often quite costly to close friends and coworkers who found themselves on the opposite side of that luck. I certainly acknowledged this in my career, and a good portion of the book that follows explores this idea as well.
Dan always insisted that acknowledging the role of luck did not imply that hard work and stick-to-it-iveness
were a wasted effort, but he always questioned why so many hardworking and deserving people simply did not rise to become executives, social media darlings, or high-profile billionaires. I, too, have thought long and hard about this condition and have concluded that you should not be labeled a failure simply because you weren’t lucky enough to reach 100,000 subscribers on your social media accounts!
But what about this old saying attributed to Thomas Jefferson: The harder I work the luckier I get
? That is certainly a well-intentioned axiom that encourages honest effort rather than idle behavior. Nonetheless, it always seems disingenuous when an immensely successful person attributes their lofty position solely to hard work and a never give up
attitude. They conveniently forget to mention that they were lucky enough to inherit some start-up funding from Uncle Leo or fortunate enough to have parents who permitted them to live at home until they were thirty-three as they grew their business. They also ignore the fact that, as successful entrepreneurs, they enjoyed the good fortune (read that luck) of finding a lucrative business niche that no one had exploited before. Hmmm. Isn’t that suspiciously like saying they were lucky to be in the right place at the right time? Looking back on all this, Dan thought so!
This book is a collection of fictional short stories based on my experiences during a multidecade corporate career. Of course, the names were changed to protect the innocent.
When recounting these stories as I prepared this manuscript, I realized that many of the lessons I learned were actually interesting examples of the theories and teachings found in basic college management courses. There was clearly no intention of summarizing any formal learning outcomes in these episodes. That is better left to the scholars preparing academic texts. Instead, most of these are presented with the intention of bringing a slight smile to the reader. On the other hand, there are subtle lessons in each story that might guide up-and-coming managers in how to react in similar business situations. To that end, I have summarized a few of the concepts in a couple of indexes at the end of this book. Index 1 offers an alphabetized list of business, leadership, and management topics indexed by chapter number. Index 2 is a simple listing of the business, leadership, and management topics discussed in each chapter.
This effort is not intended to offer an exhaustive compendium of management thought over the last century, but it should serve as an elementary introduction, or study guide, to some of the issues still faced by managers in contemporary companies. I’m not sure Dan Graham had all these concepts categorized in his mind during his career, but I can be sure he wouldn’t care if I shared them with you now!
D. Charles Gossman
March 2022
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A special thanks to my wife, Eve, daughter, Kellie, and son, Matt, who contributed proofreading and constructive criticism as I prepared several versions of this manuscript over a dozen years.
Having started a second career in academics after retiring from my first in the corporate arena, I have enjoyed half a century of observing (and learning from) bosses, employees, colleagues, students, and family. As I reflect on these people, I am fortunate that many helped (and are still helping) to shape my life. I can look back and certainly acknowledge the role my parents had in raising me, but I also recognize the profound influence Eve has had as well.
Finally, more in keeping with the purpose of this note, I could never ignore the influences of my working relationships in forming the person I’ve become. Although the characters in this book are entirely fabricated, many were loosely called to mind by those I worked with over the years. To all who influenced me, positively or negatively, I extend a heartfelt thank-you!
INTRODUCTION
Some say that the phrase "Lead, follow, or get out of the way originated with Founding Father Thomas Paine, so I guess that sentiment has been around for a long time. The old adage is usually quoted by some no-nonsense leader who intends to push through all the obstacles (reluctant workers or other barriers) to succeed at all costs. What Thomas (and many subsequent leaders) failed to realize is that there is actually a fourth choice in the leadership equation. Sometimes, as a few leaders eventually come to understand, you simply have to
get in the way!" That realization floats to the surface when leaders confront some impediment that doesn’t get out of the way so easily. They are often arrogant enough to think their past triumphs are predictive of future successes, but those previous experiences may be the result of coincidence, luck, or some wholly unrelated reason. That’s when they suddenly realize their leadership traits are based on misconceptions, misunderstandings, or downright unsupported myths! Fortunately, Dan Graham started learning this lesson as a small child.
Until he was four or five years old, baby boomer Dan Graham was certain he was the luckiest boy in the world. When old enough to dress and put on his shoes, Dan’s mom guided him in selecting the right shoe for the right foot and the left shoe for the left foot. The learning process took several days of reinforcement, but he soon got it right.
Eventually, while practicing that daily routine of slipping on shoes (and tying them—another triumph for a youngster), he realized he had not paid much attention to the socks. Then it dawned on him: he always seemed to get the right sock on the right foot the first time! He never experienced the discomfort of forcing a foot into the wrong sock as he did when mismatching a left shoe with a right foot. He deduced, based on the experimental data collected over months of checking each time he put on his socks, that he got it right the first time, every time, time after time. He assumed he was just darned lucky. In fact, he assumed he was the luckiest kid in the world. Just think about what that insight did for Dan’s self-esteem and sense of well-being! All the same, he simply failed to grasp the significance of this feat with the feet.
Then, one day, Dan made the mistake of mentioning the lucky streak to his mom and learned the truth. With a knowing chuckle, she revealed that it didn’t matter which sock you placed on the left and right because they would always feel OK.
It was at this precise moment that Dan formulated a set of fundamental but daunting truths. Well, perhaps he did not piece together all the facts at that time, but looking back on that experience while a young manager in a major corporation, he outlined the axioms revealed that day.
• Conditions are not always as good or as bad as thought.
• One rarely has all the data to make informed decisions.
• Now and then, people will operate successfully in an environment in which they have wholly misjudged basic facts.