A Day in the Life of a Senior Leader

Chapter 27. The Wanderer

Manager at the first start-up. Solid guy. Significant experience. I know that I can learn from him. No doubt. All the correct operational 1:1 hygiene is there. We meet every week like clockwork; we fill the time, and I often leave with a healthy sense of productivity.

But sometimes…he talks. And wanders.

He likes stories. He thinks out loud. Often, these stories are related to a topic he or I brought up, but often, they are entirely unrelated to the company, our work, or my job. Or are they? I’m not sure. He’s still talking, and while it’s a compelling tale, I think it’s for his narrative enjoyment rather than our collective professional well-being.

The failure case, and the reason you are reading this, is that once during story time, I was seeking guidance. I was looking for answers to essential questions, and I was working to figure out how to make progress. I forgot the story he was telling, but I discovered a question, jumped in, and asked, “You mean I should do this?”

“Yes. Yes! Exactly. Do that—great call.”

So I did.

Two weeks later, I received an urgent and irate Tuesday-night email from my manager: “Hey, what are you doing here? Why are you doing this?”

“You told me to.”

“No, I didn’t.”

I don’t yet have a deep analysis of why story time guidance differs from work guidance. I suspect that when he is lost in a narrative, he is in a different part of his brain, which isn’t work; it’s the story. I do know that receiving contradictory guidance from ...