Organisational Threats - The Lost HBR Files

I'm not bitter... Really, I'm not. I'm quite happy in fact. I had a fairly alright weekend at soggy old Karnala, which was enhanced by some top-drawer comedy moments and some genuinely interesting presentations.
So I'm honestly not bitter.

I am however mildly baffled and fairly bamboozled by the nature of certain specimens, who inhabit my midst on a regular basis. But let's play a game first. I'd like you to imagine something for a moment or so, if you will, gentle reader. For some of you, the imagination part may not be too hard, as you would be only drawing on memories.

Nearly six months, almost half a year. Keep in mind that so much happens in the span of half a year. But I digress. Imagine half a year of your life was taken from you in the most back-breakingly, ball-bustingly stress-inducing manner. Six months worth of your blood, sweat and tears are invested into something and you are told that it will all be worth it. You are shouted at, berated, chastised, urged and forced to toil into the night. But you turn up every single day. Why? Somewhere inside you, you keep telling yourself that it will all be worth it at the end of the day and you seek solace in that fact.

So this half year, these 180-odd days drag and drag and finally after taking ounces of flesh and gallons of your energy, they are finally gone and in a moment of craziness, amidst a melee of black shirts (too obvious?) flying at each other, you believe it was all worth it. You congratulate yourself and each other. Waves of relief wash over you, almost dispelling all memories of the arduous planning, fighting, stressing and toiling. You smile and you traipse away into the night, smiling that you were a part of something that made a bunch of people smile.

And then it's all good, until you happen to get a sniff of some of the feedback flying around. No product appeals to all customers and there will be discontents and so you take some criticism on-board. There will also be people who will whine for the sake of whining and so you ignore them. There will be people who will stab you behind the back. It's inevitable. But, you ignore them as well. You know that none of it matters and so it doesn't affect you. What does, however, throw salt in your proverbial game is when members within your organisation decide to be difficult. Now, on most occassions, this will involve the media. As with most things today, the media's always there. I can't rant about the media, though. Some day, it's going to feed, clothe and shelter me. But I digress again. Your jaw hits the floor as you read shockingly inaccurate 'versions' of events reported to the media by these aforementioned members of your organisation. You cringe inwardly that some of these people had been there alongside you from the start and should really have known better. You steam with irritation at the clueless who had probably turned up for just the solitary day during the entire period that you were out there busting your balls. Your irritation turns to disgust and fury when you hear that some more organisation members are indulging in gossip (whether speculative or malicious) about your scheming ways and how a certain integral part of what you are toiling for has been nixed with a view to embezzle large sums of money.

And what sizzles you even more at the end of the day is that you know that you did not toil for the plaudits, the mentions or the praise. You worked because you wanted to and then, you see your own people selling your team's work down the river, dumbing it down, trivialising it and distorting it. That's what truly burns you...

We come to the end of this little, 'Let's Imagine' story and there is no conclusion, there is no 'moral of the story', there is no request or plea because frankly I see no point in indulging in such practices. It's just the end of the story, s'all. Once again, I'm not bitter, I'm not angry but I am disappointed.