Get Your Priorities Hijacked II

If you put two women, who can neither speak nor hear nor see, in a room, how long will it take them to argue? Yes, there is more female drama in the Stitely household. Today's issue is the banning of Diet Coke from the kitchen refrigerator. President Obama should stop whatever he's doing to address this issue of national importance. We have two refrigerators, one in the kitchen and one in the garage. My daughter, Shannon, committed the unpardonable sin of putting a few Diet Cokes in the kitchen refrigerator. She did this with the best of intentions. Every time someone opens the door to the garage, a chime rings throughout the house from our security system. In the evening, the chime wakes up anyone who is asleep. Shannon was hoping to avoid awakening the household if she wanted something to drink in the evening. Who could find fault with this logic?

Another female, of course. We have two refrigerators full of spoiled food no one wants to eat, but there is no room for Diet Cokes in the kitchen?! Only women can argue about something this silly. The real crime,as it relates to the only important person in this story, me, is that my morning routine was disrupted, and it put me in a really rotten mood, as most female issues do. I was scheduled to attend a chamber of commerce breakfast, but I just wasn't in the mood to deal with people after hearing about the conflict from my wife, Laura.

If the most important issue in my life is ever the number of Diet Cokes in the refrigerator, please stuff me in a coffin and nail it shut. My life won't be worth living anymore. I'll wait for the angel of death to come calling. Yes, my priorities were hijacked by this nonsense.

You've certainly heard the saying, “Don't shoot the messenger.” That means you shouldn't punish the bearer of bad news. If you do, you'll never hear bad news that can harm your business. I am going to make the opposite case. You should shoot the messenger under certain circumstances. Here's a story for you from my career prior to opening S&K.

Back in the late eighties, I was the manager of financial reporting for a company named, Sky Courier. The company was a delivery company that was a subsidiary of a New York company called Citipostal, which was most often referred to internally as Silly Postal. I had a staff accountant, named Danette, who reported to me. Every conversation Danette started with me went as follows.

“You aren't going to want to hear this but.....”

You can guess what joy followed. Every conversation with her involved some sort of bad news she felt compelled to share with me. The company was having trouble financially. So there was no shortage of bad news. However, Danette's issues had nothing to do with financial bad news. She always had some sort of accounting issue that absolutely needed my full and immediate attention. These were really critical problems like who was talking behind her back or who wouldn't give her the attention she deserved.

One afternoon, she came to me and said, “You aren't going to want to hear this, but I am giving you my two weeks' notice.”

Humor me here, but at the time this seemed like devastating news. With the company's financial problems, I would be unable to hire a replacement.

Soon after she left, however, something magical and wondrous occurred. Instead of getting less work done, I was actually getting more work accomplished. My priorities now mattered more than dealing with Danette's. She had hijacked my priorities. I should have fired her months earlier. Not only was I getting more work done, my frame of mind was better. Without her constant whining, I was able to get financial statements done on a timely basis despite, or probably because, I had fewer staff. Danette's weekly forty hours were a net negative in terms of work actually done. If I had shot the messenger early on, I would have been a much happier human being. I can feel how much you care.

Sometimes a company's Danette will be known by the award Danette's typically win, employee of the year. Managers want to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the most valuable people are those who reveal and deliver bad news. In fact, the most valuable people are those who can either prevent bad news or solve the underlying problems. By the time bad news gets to a business owner, somebody failed at preventing it, usually a Danette. You might reasonably conclude that serial bad news junkies are creating a lot of the bad news they deliver. Thus, killing the occasional bad news messenger can benefit your company by reducing the incidence of problems. And, best of all, you get to stick to your priorities, not Danette's.

Last week, I heard a story on news radio station WTOP that scientific studies have shown that cuddling reduces stress. Can you imagine the stress of being a movie starlet? I am offering my cuddling services to my future wife, Jennifer Aniston to help with her mental health. I'm sure she'll appreciate my cuddling skill.

Tonight the Redskins play their first preseason game against the Buffalo (soon to be Toronto) Bills. The Skins have a rookie quarterback and three injured offensive lineman. I may need some cuddling to get through watching the game. Jen, call me ASAP.

Thanks for reading. As always, you can get real tax and accounting advice from the main S&K web site www.skcpas.com. Also check our our new page for medical professionals, courtesy of Josh Fertel at River City Marketing, www.totalaccountingcare.com I have to stop here. My cell phone is ringing and caller ID says it's Jen.