The Cost of Keeping a Promise
Yesterday was a very bad day for me. Yeah, to be fair, it's just one more in a long line of very bad days, but they tend to have a cumulative effect... after more than 5 or 6, it gets really hard to have the reserves that you had before the first. I'm not going to get into what it was, or anything like that - it's not the important point right now. What is important is that this morning I realized that it's just the cost of keeping a promise.
And yeah... it's just that simple.
A few weeks ago, I promised the CEO, in response to his worry about hitting a delivery date, that I would guarantee completion - but I had to be able to do it my way. It would work, and it would be stable, and flexible, but I couldn't be forced into another language, or another platform, etc. He agreed, and from that point on, even sub-consciously, I was working on that promise. When a new manager appeared, I assumed he was here to assist me. He believed he was here to implement his vision.
He didn't like that I wasn't willing to do just exactly as he said. I can even see his point of view - if it weren't for this promise I made. I should have told him right then and there of the promise, but I didn't want to make it more complicated than it already was. He wasn't interested in me liking his decision, he just wanted me to do it. That attitude just seemed wrong for the fact this was his second day.
But back to the point. This promise I made put me in the cross-hairs for his anger. It made me look to some like I wasn't being responsive - or even responsible. I was even painted as insubordinate. And what I realized this morning was that whether or not this was true, it was the cost of keeping the promise.
When I talk to the CEO and this new guy next, I'm going to ask the CEO if he wants to release me from this promise. If he does, then I'll do just what the new guy wants. Because then it's not my promise that's on the line. And it doesn't matter that the new guys says it's now his problem - the promise was from me to the CEO -- the new guy doesn't enter into the picture at all.
A great scene from Rob Roy:
Son: Father, will the MacGregors ever be kings again?
Robert Roy MacGregor: All men with honor are kings. But not all kings have honor.
Son: What is honor?
Robert Roy MacGregor: Honor is...
[Mary looking on]
Robert Roy MacGregor: what no man can give ya. And none can take away. Honor is a man's gift to himself.
Son: Do women have it?
Robert Roy MacGregor: Women have the heart of honor. And we cherish and protect it in them. You must never mistreat a woman, or a lame man. Or stand by a see another do so.
Son: How do you know if you have it?
Robert Roy MacGregor: Never worry on the getting of it. It grows in you, and speaks to you. All you need do is listen.
That's it. A promise is a promise - no matter what. Even when it's costly.