When I was working as a consultant, I was walking alone on the first floor of a client's office in Yeouido around 3:30 p.m. when I got a call from my partner (who I like and respect), who was returning from a golf outing with clients. After a brief work-related conversation, he hung up the phone with the final words, "Lee, take care of Sooyeon!".
After the call, I stood there dumbfounded for about three seconds. When I got back to the project office, I asked a close junior colleague, who told me that she was a new consultant who had recently joined the company and that she had had a disagreement with her partner about Career Path. Once I understood the situation, I contacted her, and she met with me and listened to my concerns.
I started to take care of my friends who had disagreements with my partner, and I started to have more and more juniors following me. One day, I was having dinner with my partner and we were talking, and he said, "It may not be good for the organization for you to be a good person for your juniors." I said, "I'm going to sacrifice my personal time to do that.
I thought, "Why would he do that to me, when I've taken time out of my day to go to their places, buy them food, and make an effort for the organization, and he doesn't even know it? I didn't understand what that meant until I finished being a consultant, but when I started my own business and ran an organization, I understood how my partner felt.
In order to run an organization, you need someone to be the good guy and someone else to be the bad guy. Ideally, the head of the organization should be the protagonist, and the villain should be the head of the organization's closest associate. When my partner told me to take care of Soo-yeon, he meant to appease his friend, but he also meant to take care of the organization so that it could return to a virtuous cycle.
Comments