CHAPTER 3

What Role Are You Playing?

Looking at Your Unintended Impact

Good Heavens! For more than forty years, I have been speaking prose without knowing it.

—Jean Baptiste Molière (1622−1673), Le Bourgeois Gentihomme

WHO WERE THE LAST TEN PEOPLE to knock at your office door (or call or send an e-mail)? What did they want? Were they there to get your insights on a short-term project? A long-term project? Did they need a sounding board to help them prioritize their work? Did they need a personal pep talk? Conflict resolution? Representation?

Were they there to seek guidance on an open-door issue, or a closed-door issue? Did they want your judgment, your point of view, or a particular ruling or answer?

Do these same people regularly consult ...

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