Bide your Time

I remember this one incident that had happened many years ago. We were to have new super boss join our business unit. I and my boss came up with what seemed like a great idea to establish our credibility with the new leader - to do a white paper on something.

What seemed like a great initiative back fired almost instantly. The super boss, who had just taken on the reins, felt we were pulling a fast one on them and challenging their position. We got asked a ton of questions, and were admonished for thinking about this idea.

At the time we were perplexed as to what had happened, and chose to bide our time. Over the years the relationship with the super boss improved and today the person is trusted mentor and a guide. As for the paper, we did get to publish it just a few months after this incident, with support from the super boss.

Sometimes we get caught in a storm in the professional sphere, for no fault of ours. It is like being at a wrong place at the wrong. It's important to find cover, let the storm pass, and things get better. This perspective has stayed with me and helped tide over many storms over the years.