Power, Prestige & Place

It is truly strange reading something that caught my attention on a rather prosaic level, only to discover a lot of its messages are like magic keys opening up AH HA! insights into my life, from earliest days to now.  Strange & wondrous!!

For one thing, can now grasp how my tone deafness about “proper place” got me into a pickle with siblings who felt owed due deference because of age or brilliance, with people of power or prestige or connection who expect a “kiss the ring” mentality from all but a select few, with people who expect leaders are to followed, not questioned.  

Mind you, I was raised to be deferential to my elders, to teachers & to ministers.  That was it.  Mom & Dad never seemed cowed being around people with vast wealth or were incredibly successful in the business world or had racked up a collection of degrees & lofty honors.  

Nope, I never fully grasped that some folks measure & expect to be measured by power, prestige, or place.  Call me a clueless ninny, but it never occurred to me. 

But, wait - that clueless quality was the very cornerstone of my corporate success!  Unlike most of my colleagues & coworkers, I never hesitated to reach out to a “higher up” to resolve a problem or advance a key project.   (Thanks, Pete, for encouraging that!)

Will always remember the colleagues who considered I’d committed corporate suicide when I questioned a suggestion made by a lofty vice president-in-charge and several lesser vps.  (Hey, it was an expensive idea with no long-term benefits for the company!)   They were even more surprised when, after our lunch break,  the very execs I’d questioned returned full of agreement with my idea, wanting to hear more.  “Gee, you have nerves of steel,” was the comment I heard.  No – it never dawned on me to keep silent; sure, they might not agree with me, but at least I’d give them another way of looking at things.

Time & again, I was blind to the next-best step toward recognition & power.  Take when a financial services group I worked for acquired the 401(k) administrative unit from a company with an illustrious name (our company was only known within the industry).  I was assigned to work with the new unit when it started having morale problems due to the transition.  After a couple weeks, I asked the vp of our HR department, “Jim, I’m wondering - what's your transition plan for bringing them onboard?”  He looked at me like I’d spoken Swahili.  I rephrased the question.  Same puzzled response.  Finally, I asked, “Jim, do you have a transition plan?”  No, he didn’t - we'd acquired a unit with well over 100 employees, all of who had taken great pride working for a famous company, thrown them into a culture significantly less laid-back than theirs, and didn’t have a plan for helping ease them into their new environment, for making them feel part of the bigger team.  And there I was, opening up my big mouth to point this all out.  But it got results.  Jim realized the execs had to TALK to the new hires, needed to make them feel visible & valued, yet  part of a greater whole.  They were so impressed with my “bold, straight” talk, they insisted (literally) on giving me a hefty salary increase plus bonus. 

Back in the dawn of my professional life, when I was an elementary school teacher, it never occurred on me to play politics with my students.  A co-teacher from those early days, a wondrous politician who went on to spectacular success, told my sister the reason I hadn’t lasted at the school was that when I saw a child needed something, I went straight for it, without taking the time to pander to the principal (who saw himself as THE power broker) or the parents, who (sadly) often saw their own interests more readily than they did their child’s.   He was right - didn't then, wouldn't now.  

To me, in that first job, teaching was about advancing each child’s best interests, not racking up tenure.

When I worked in public relations & marketing for a mega insurance company, it was about making sure the marketing teams had the materials they needed, that the city offices served by our regions had the proper resources, accurate information, and creative support  they needed to meet/exceed their financial objectives.  And sometimes it meant questioning dubious suggestions by lofty execs.

When I worked in financial services, it was about being there for customers (HR department heads) and brokers, to define problems & craft solutions, to educate all contacts so that they could avoid similar problems in the future, then following up with our own departments on ways to improve my own delivery of services.  And sometimes it meant speaking truth to power.

In doing all of the above, I ruffled my fair share of feathers, from the principal who felt my (unwitting) use of power was unseemly in a female teacher to colleagues horrified at my willingness to disagree with power to vps who could not believe  I’d bring up a dicey situation simply to protect the company’s best interest to the sib-in-law who bristled when I didn’t inwardly courtesy to her superior self.

What fun at age 61 to realize that what got me into “trouble” was a forever devotion to stewardship.  I am not patting myself on the back.  Look at my life.  It’s sort of clear.  And it’s not because of anything I did or strategized or developed.  Chalk it up to a little bit nature, a lot of my family's nurture. 

It’s not a handicap, not a blessing – it just is what it is, which is a spur for more. 

What a thrill to confidently, consciously, vibrantly sally forth into the rest of my life, seeking opportunities to bring the best of whatever it is I am to a world that seems in need of my – let’s face it – funky ways. 

My power lies in my eagerness to do what I can, in whatever circumstances I find myself.  My prestige lies in being myself & staying willing to experience others with an open heart.  And my place is wherever I set my foot. 

Adventures await!