Sometimes, all you need is love!
It was December 22, 1984 and I was working as a junior accountant in the anger management atlanta advisory department of a large local Certified Public Accounting firm in Atlanta, GA. In September of that year, I had been selected to work with the managing partner of the firm and one of his clients on a project to prepare the clients business for sale. I was pumped! I was working for the "king" of the firm and the project was my first real chance to prove my skills in a significant way.
By December, I had worked a tremendous number of hours on the project; developing financial projections and models to show the potential buyer what our clients business could generate and the opportunity that was there for growth. A meeting was scheduled for Friday morning, December 22, 1986 between our client and the potential buyer to discuss the deal. I had the client and the managing partner armed and ready as they set off for their meeting early on Friday morning. I was feeling good about myself and my work! Because it was the Friday before Christmas, I was taking off after lunch to spend time with my fiancé and her parents. They were coming into town to spend Christmas weekend with us. We were scheduled to go to a Christmas concert that evening at 7:30. I was looking forward to making a big impression on my fiancé parents over that weekend. I wanted to show them that I was going to be good son in law.
All of those plans changed at around 2:00 P.M. that day, when I got what I remember only as the call. The managing partner was on the phone and told me to meet him and the client back at the office at 3:30 that afternoon to discuss changes to the projections. Now on the surface, that was not a huge deal. I would meet the partner at the office at 3:30 to get the changes that were required. Since it was the Friday before Christmas, I was certain that I would have a few days before and after Christmas to redo the projections and get them back to the potential buyer. You see as a first year junior accountant, I was too naïve to think anything otherwise.
The client and partner had a list of changes that filled two legal sheets of paper. We went over each of them and I understood exactly what needed to be done. It was around 5:00 in the afternoon at this point, and as they were getting up to leave the meeting, I asked a very critical question. When would you like to have all of the changes? By 10:00 A.M. tomorrow morning was the answer. Hoping that I had not turned to pale in front of them, I knew that my plans for the evening with my fiancé and future in-laws had just gone out the window. O.K, I said, I will have them in the morning, and with that they left the office for the day for whatever they had planned for the evening anger management atlanta. I called my fiancé and informed her of the unfortunate circumstances that I found myself in. I also spoke to my future in-laws and explained to them that they would be attending the concert without me.
I hung up the phone and began working on the project. The more I worked the madder I got. Mad that I had disappointed my fiancé; Mad that I had let down my future in laws; but most of all I was mad because the managing partner left for the day with no word of thanks, encouragement or anything for what he had asked me to do. Now don't get me wrong, I clearly understood the need to get the changes made and the project back to the potential purchaser the next day. I understood that sometimes you have to sacrifice. This project was my chance to get ahead at the firm. But I was still mad that the partner did not say thanks.
All the anger, resentment and disappointment I felt could have been avoided with a simple pat on the back and thanks. Most of us remember All You Need is Love, a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was first performed by The Beatles on the Our World broadcast on June 25, 1967. Sometimes all an employee needs is A Little Love. A pat on the back and a simple thank you can be a great motivator. If I had received that on the afternoon of December 22, 1984, I probably would remember that managing partner in a whole different way anger management atlanta!
It was December 22, 1984 and I was working as a junior accountant in the anger management atlanta advisory department of a large local Certified Public Accounting firm in Atlanta, GA. In September of that year, I had been selected to work with the managing partner of the firm and one of his clients on a project to prepare the clients business for sale. I was pumped! I was working for the "king" of the firm and the project was my first real chance to prove my skills in a significant way.
By December, I had worked a tremendous number of hours on the project; developing financial projections and models to show the potential buyer what our clients business could generate and the opportunity that was there for growth. A meeting was scheduled for Friday morning, December 22, 1986 between our client and the potential buyer to discuss the deal. I had the client and the managing partner armed and ready as they set off for their meeting early on Friday morning. I was feeling good about myself and my work! Because it was the Friday before Christmas, I was taking off after lunch to spend time with my fiancé and her parents. They were coming into town to spend Christmas weekend with us. We were scheduled to go to a Christmas concert that evening at 7:30. I was looking forward to making a big impression on my fiancé parents over that weekend. I wanted to show them that I was going to be good son in law.
All of those plans changed at around 2:00 P.M. that day, when I got what I remember only as the call. The managing partner was on the phone and told me to meet him and the client back at the office at 3:30 that afternoon to discuss changes to the projections. Now on the surface, that was not a huge deal. I would meet the partner at the office at 3:30 to get the changes that were required. Since it was the Friday before Christmas, I was certain that I would have a few days before and after Christmas to redo the projections and get them back to the potential buyer. You see as a first year junior accountant, I was too naïve to think anything otherwise.
The client and partner had a list of changes that filled two legal sheets of paper. We went over each of them and I understood exactly what needed to be done. It was around 5:00 in the afternoon at this point, and as they were getting up to leave the meeting, I asked a very critical question. When would you like to have all of the changes? By 10:00 A.M. tomorrow morning was the answer. Hoping that I had not turned to pale in front of them, I knew that my plans for the evening with my fiancé and future in-laws had just gone out the window. O.K, I said, I will have them in the morning, and with that they left the office for the day for whatever they had planned for the evening anger management atlanta. I called my fiancé and informed her of the unfortunate circumstances that I found myself in. I also spoke to my future in-laws and explained to them that they would be attending the concert without me.
I hung up the phone and began working on the project. The more I worked the madder I got. Mad that I had disappointed my fiancé; Mad that I had let down my future in laws; but most of all I was mad because the managing partner left for the day with no word of thanks, encouragement or anything for what he had asked me to do. Now don't get me wrong, I clearly understood the need to get the changes made and the project back to the potential purchaser the next day. I understood that sometimes you have to sacrifice. This project was my chance to get ahead at the firm. But I was still mad that the partner did not say thanks.
All the anger, resentment and disappointment I felt could have been avoided with a simple pat on the back and thanks. Most of us remember All You Need is Love, a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was first performed by The Beatles on the Our World broadcast on June 25, 1967. Sometimes all an employee needs is A Little Love. A pat on the back and a simple thank you can be a great motivator. If I had received that on the afternoon of December 22, 1984, I probably would remember that managing partner in a whole different way anger management atlanta!
