The Echo | From A Reader
Written by Don
I read Empathy Deficits with interest, as I'm sure you have or will. It's a “life happens” book. Life at times throws a body block at you just when things seem to be working nicely. Life hands you a lemon. Empathy Deficits is such a story. But in this case, as the saying goes, the author made lemonade. I'm not going to write a book on the primary theme of the book—it's already written: Empathy Deficits.
Also interesting is its context, or what we can call the “backstories.”
One of these backstories was the working environment; the workplace basically turned toxic. You can find endless reading material on toxic workplaces, across the whole spectrum from learned discourses to personal stories. While one may not think of them this way, companies can be viewed as entities with habits, personalities, eccentricities, moods, and insecurities. They can be nice to be around, or not.
There's a business story in there, or hints of one, that should intrigue anyone's business mind. Sort of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde business story. In my experience and observations, I could make a case that you won't know what kind of company you've thrown your lot into until it runs into problems. Then its true colors emerge.
When everything is going great, they're usually great for you too. Things are flying high, smiles are everywhere, and leadership is getting kudos for their success. But when the company screws up or hits a wall, the gloves may come off, a blame game begins, and it can get ugly. And it can't be the fault of leadership—after all, they collected all those kudos, right? Companies are complex. A complete understanding of what caused a behavioral change would take an objective audit and willing, interested participants. That is unlikely to happen, but it is no less interesting to read and puzzle over.
The backstory that really caught my eye was the PIP (Performance Improvement Plan)—the author's specifically, and the process per se.
Editor’s Note: This reflection is so rich with real-world wisdom that we wanted to give his insights the full space they deserve. This concludes Part 1 of his thought-provoking piece. In our next newsletter, our reader returns with the second half, diving deeper into the reality of corporate Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs). Trust us—you won't want to miss his final takeaway.