Man of a Different Color
--
Thursday, October 19, 2007
Before I left for my fishing trip in June, I took on new responsibilities at work. The pay is the same and the problems are larger, but the Blackberry is newer.
Last week, I solved a database problem that had growled at us for over five years. The person who couldn't solve it finally moved on and gave it to me. For the last two months, I worked on it over lunch and on the weekends, and as of last Tuesday, it growled no more.
I was expecting a small bonus for my endeavors, as I've received in the past, but nothing came of my work - except the end of the problem. I didn't appreciate that last part until this past Monday, when I noticed a recognition award on my Wall of Me at work.
I was at my desk, stumped by a design problem and seeking salvation and an answer in a banana and Dr. Pepper break, when I looked up from my papers and saw the cards that K has given me over the years for Father's Day and Christmas. Behind them on the cubicle wall were the Renoir and O'Keefe prints. To the left of them were the photos of my brother and his wife, Mom and Dad, K and one of me taken five years ago when I was fiercely muscular.
Between the photos of K and my parents was a faded recognition award I had push-pinned at an angle into the wall. It was a blue index card given to me eight years ago by Jeff, a client from Marketing. On it, he had written, "For being a Yellow in a Blue World".
It referred to a team-building exercise and questionnaire that ninety fellow departmental employees took when our new manager assumed his position. He didn't know us, and the questionnaire gave him a quick read on our decision-making style. Mine was Yellow (a free thinker, no rules) with heavy Blue tendencies (analytical and logical).
At the end of the exercise, we took a group photo and lined up according to the dominant color tag affixed to our chest. Our manager was first and set the color wheel. He was a Blue with Green tendencies, thus making him good manager material. As we formed a large U on the sixth floor portico, I noticed everyone in the group was Blue or Green except me. I was dead last out of ninety people and my new boss and I thought nothing alike. Within a week, I received my complimentary 11 x 14 group photo confirming that fact.
Jeff came by a few days later and noticed the photo laying on my in-basket. I told him how it rankled me. He picked it up, stared at it a few seconds and put it back down. "You're looking at it the wrong way. It's a Bell Curve and you're all geeks." He smiled, and then shrugged his shoulder, "You hafta be a Yellow and take chances and he has to be a Blue and follow the rules." Jeff was right.
The next day, I found a card on my desk. It read, "Take Risks!! It takes courage to take chances..." Inside was the recognition award and two movie tickets.
Jeff took a risk six years ago and followed his dreams to a small mountain town in Oregon with his wife. There, they enjoy the outdoors as they've always imagined.
And I'm here in Arizona. A happy Yellow who looks at life a little bit differently than others.
A man of a different color.
--
Thursday, October 19, 2007
Before I left for my fishing trip in June, I took on new responsibilities at work. The pay is the same and the problems are larger, but the Blackberry is newer.
Last week, I solved a database problem that had growled at us for over five years. The person who couldn't solve it finally moved on and gave it to me. For the last two months, I worked on it over lunch and on the weekends, and as of last Tuesday, it growled no more.
I was expecting a small bonus for my endeavors, as I've received in the past, but nothing came of my work - except the end of the problem. I didn't appreciate that last part until this past Monday, when I noticed a recognition award on my Wall of Me at work.
I was at my desk, stumped by a design problem and seeking salvation and an answer in a banana and Dr. Pepper break, when I looked up from my papers and saw the cards that K has given me over the years for Father's Day and Christmas. Behind them on the cubicle wall were the Renoir and O'Keefe prints. To the left of them were the photos of my brother and his wife, Mom and Dad, K and one of me taken five years ago when I was fiercely muscular.
Between the photos of K and my parents was a faded recognition award I had push-pinned at an angle into the wall. It was a blue index card given to me eight years ago by Jeff, a client from Marketing. On it, he had written, "For being a Yellow in a Blue World".
It referred to a team-building exercise and questionnaire that ninety fellow departmental employees took when our new manager assumed his position. He didn't know us, and the questionnaire gave him a quick read on our decision-making style. Mine was Yellow (a free thinker, no rules) with heavy Blue tendencies (analytical and logical).
At the end of the exercise, we took a group photo and lined up according to the dominant color tag affixed to our chest. Our manager was first and set the color wheel. He was a Blue with Green tendencies, thus making him good manager material. As we formed a large U on the sixth floor portico, I noticed everyone in the group was Blue or Green except me. I was dead last out of ninety people and my new boss and I thought nothing alike. Within a week, I received my complimentary 11 x 14 group photo confirming that fact.
Jeff came by a few days later and noticed the photo laying on my in-basket. I told him how it rankled me. He picked it up, stared at it a few seconds and put it back down. "You're looking at it the wrong way. It's a Bell Curve and you're all geeks." He smiled, and then shrugged his shoulder, "You hafta be a Yellow and take chances and he has to be a Blue and follow the rules." Jeff was right.
The next day, I found a card on my desk. It read, "Take Risks!! It takes courage to take chances..." Inside was the recognition award and two movie tickets.
Jeff took a risk six years ago and followed his dreams to a small mountain town in Oregon with his wife. There, they enjoy the outdoors as they've always imagined.
And I'm here in Arizona. A happy Yellow who looks at life a little bit differently than others.
A man of a different color.
--
posted by Mike Chandler | 3:32 PM
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