A few years ago I found myself working for a genuine captain of industry. You know the kind: in his late fifties, grayish hair, multiple memberships of exclusive country clubs, powerful, impatient but always confident, and somewhere there was this loving family he hardly ever saw.
I loved working for him, as he was inspiring and knowledgeable. Besides his humor appealed to me. We worked very hard and had lots of fun at the same time. He taught me a lot and many of his lessons have shaped my professional character.
One night we were having a meeting with the Chief Human Resources Officer, the Chief Operations Officer the Chief Legal officer and several secretaries. The meeting had to be held, but the decisions were already made in the weeks before. To be honest this meeting was just held to check if everything was arranged and everybody involved knew his or her part to play. That coming week a couple of managers would get the word that the company would not be in need of their efforts in the future, in other words: they would be fired.
So my boss checked if all the ropes were tied. They were.
“Okay”, he said with a twinkle in his eyes, “Bill will get the word early Tuesday morning, and Andy comes in at 11 p.m.”
Suddenly he looked at me. Somehow I felt uncomfortable. “MJ has anybody talked to Robert about this?”, he asked. Both the CHRO and I shook our heads and I said: “No, you did not want anybody to say anything, so it is completely up to you to bring him the news.” I knew he and Robert were old friends. They had known each other for 30 years. It would be tough to fire Robert, but the decision was there and my boss had dealt with nastier problems.
“Mmm, you know what, you invite him to play golf on Friday. An invitation he cannot refuse! Then I will tell him.” He looked relieved. Playing golf was something he and Robert were crazy about. And during the game you could easily hit your driver and say something like ‘Well Robert, I think you know that we should play more golf in the future. So what would you say about retiring from the business?’ I already heard him say this. And everything went as planned. My boss was very satisfied with the way he handled things. In fact, during the months to follow, he kept on having these ‘Friday golf firing sessions’, as they were called within the company.
Soon nobody wanted to play golf with him on Friday. It learned me a lot about the art of communications. Playing golf on Friday meant to get fired. Even business acquaintances and clients knew about this special treat. As I drove an important client to the country club to play golf with him on a Tuesday the man said: “Lucky for me we do not play on a Friday. He can’t sack me, but probably would have some kind of nasty message. The word is out: never play golf with him on a Friday.” A few years later – now retired himself – my former boss told me that it stays difficult for him to find people that want to play golf with him on Fridays. “Can you understand that?”, he asked. Oh yeah, I do understand. It’s called labeling.
Marie-José Jamin
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