Difficult Conversations Don't Have to Be Difficult

Chapter 2Transparency

The First Surprise

Ruth sat at her desk and waited for Paula. She had booked the only time she saw available on Paula's calendar and was getting frustrated that Paula was not on time for their 5 p.m. meeting. When the clock said 5:05 p.m., she sighed and got up to see if Paula was still in her office. Just as Ruth started to get up to find Paula, she entered the doorway. Paula apologized for her delay and closed the door to Ruth's office before sitting down in one of the chairs across from Ruth's desk.

Ruth thought that was a little strange. Paula did not normally close the door, but perhaps she had something confidential to discuss, which was not surprising considering all the product launch planning that was happening. The BBDI team did not want the competition to get wind of the new product information or the timing of when it was officially coming to market. Maybe that required a closed‐door meeting.

As Ruth waited for Paula to get settled, she noticed that Paula was wearing different clothing than earlier in the day. When she got off the elevator, she had been wearing a navy pantsuit and now was wearing jeans and a hoodie with the company logo. Ruth looked at Paula and prepared to have a difficult conversation about how distracted she seemed. Ruth knew it was going to be difficult to tell Paula how she was dropping the ball, but it had to be done.

Paula started speaking before Ruth could say anything. She said, “Ruth, this isn't easy for me to say, ...