Provoke

CHAPTER 4Expanding Peripheral Vision

“I can't deal with this anymore! I'm done. I'm walking over to HR and asking them to give me a package!”

William was exasperated and frustrated. He was one of the most senior and accomplished men at his consumer products company. But he had a new boss who was completely different from his prior boss. William and Steve were debriefing in the cafeteria after the latest interaction with the new boss. Steve hadn't seen William like this in the years they had worked together. It was taking its toll on him. He had become short with others and was frequently and visibly frustrated. It was notably out of character.

William was usually incredibly confident in his manner with others – not cocky, but supremely capable. When he met with others, he deftly controlled the direction of the conversation. He listened to others but always drove to the outcome he had been planning. He entered each meeting with a clear objective on what he sought to accomplish with the other person (particularly when it was a senior person) and almost always achieved it.

His experience with his new boss, Beth, was different. He had had a series of challenging conversations with her from which he walked away feeling frustrated. Steve had been involved in a number of these and it wasn't that the conversations had been uncomfortable or delicate. But they did seem to be going in a lot of different directions.

“I don't get it, Steve. We walk in with exactly what she asked for previously ...