The Front Line Guide to Thinking Clearly

Thinking Clearly and Analytically

65

quotas, but because he had proven himself as a per-

former.

This really happened. The manager involved is an excep-

tional person. Not so many others would care enough about a

subordinate to speak that frankly, to snatch the focus of the

conversation away from “poor me” and turn it to possibilities

and choices. But the African-American worker is also excep-

tional: He chose not to react defensively, but to instead look

at himself in the mirror the manager held up. And he made a

positive, future-affirming choice, instead of choosing anger

and resentment. It’s hard to generalize past the specifics, but I