B. U. G. S.

A commenter recently wrote me about his progress, and then went on to say how he was in bad shape. But he is still battling on.

He then apologized for “whining” to me. I replied to him that that is what friends are for. He thanked me, but said that when he read that e-mail back over, he felt even WORSE.

Look, gang, this is one thing I realize completely that other managers talk about but don’t PRACTICE.

Let me repeat, Henry Ford was asked what he would do if the government took away his company. He replied, “I can spare the machinery. As long as they don’t take my PEOPLE away, I’ll stay rich.” I’m sure I got the quote wrong, but that’s the POINT that was made.

We have a phenomenal machine here, because PEOPLE like SysOps set it up. What our commenter doesn’t realize is that HE is my resource. Yes, I am a friend of his, but YOU are my RESOURCE. If you are feeling down I need to know it. If I can help by listening, I would be a FOOL not to listen, even if it hurts your pride to tell me so.

Most managers are FOOLS. They insist they don’t want “Yes” men, but they expect their one real resource, the one that makes them MANAGERS, to put on a tough act.

Then there are the managers who kiss up to their people. I have probably driven people out of here who couldn’t take what I said back. This commenter is putting me down a little when he apologizes AFTER I said it was fine. All of you know very well that if I thought you were whining unnecessarily I would TELL you so.

Gimme a BREAK, gang!

I don’t hesitate to “whine” to you when I NEED to. I am YOUR resource, and if you are going to give me your attention and effort, you need to know where I am and to help ME out by listening.

When you get to be part of my team, I want you to be PROUD of the fact you have made in the world of, to put it mildly, a man whose standards are out of sight.

And with PRIDE should come some CONFIDENCE. I am too confident of my manhood, especially my MORAL manhood, to be afraid to overdo the PERSONAL gloom bit from time to time. As you know, there is nothing I DESPISE more than the Tough Guy. The Masturbation Generation gave me fifty years of that crap. It is the ONLY worthwhile lesson they taught me.

Your PERSONAL problems that affect your performance are MY concern, whether it is supposed to make you “look good” or not. You OWE it to me to “whine” if you need to. It is only when, like Mr. Webb, you let your PERSONAL depression turn into DEFEATISM that I go ballistic.

Most of the best compliments I really appreciated were left-handed ones. When I was in my teens, and the teens aren’t the most stable period in one’s life, least of all mine, a group I was working with complained to our leader about what an SOB I was.

He replied, “Yes, Whitaker is a pain in the ass. He’s always insulting, bitching, worrying out loud, being just plain nasty and he is always THERE when we need him.”

He concluded, “If any of the rest are THERE when we need them and have the guts to DO what is needed the way Whitaker does, I’ll consider your complaints.”

Now THERE’S a LEADER!

I had TWO people in DC offer to take cuts in pay to work under me. Managers brag their door is always open. But I was always there, and you didn’t need to impress me to talk to me. In fact, it was MORE important to let me know when you didn’t feel up to it and needed a listener.

WE are our resource. That is more practical even than worrying abut the machinery. This is a MORAL war and your morale and my morale is critical.