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This thread reminds me of my insurance agent Jerry Koch. Jerry was 92 the
last time he took me out to lunch as a client. He brought along a young man
(62) named Al who handled the grunt work. Jerry was about 80% blind, so when
I saw how beautiful the meal presentation was, I commented on how I wished
he could see it. Jerry said, "Yes, David, I wish I could, but my vision gets
worse each day. Al poked Jerry in the ribs and commiserated with a laugh,
"You know, Jerry, my hearing isn't so good anymore either." Jerry, without
missing a beat, turned to Al and replied, "You know, Al, we ought to get
together and see if we can make money out of this!"
Jerry was always good at making lemonade out of lemons. His attitude is
probably why he lived to be 92.
(This is a true story. Jerry sold me an insurance policy that day (Friday)
and died on Tuesday. At his wake, his son and I argued over which of us
Jerry had sold the last policy to. I was the last sale, but his son's policy
went into effect before Jerry died. Mine was posthumous.)
How does this story apply to the thread? With a little creativity, a
perceived slight, can be made into an opportunity. Several TECHWHIRLERS have
written in to give examples. Here's another. We do process analysis as a
consulting practice and as a prelude to training and documentation.
Typically, our team for a process-mapping session includes two people--a
group Facilitator who does the mapping with a cross-functional,
cross-departmental team from the client, and a tech writer, designated the
Logger, who takes notes on the sessions, and collaborates with the
Facilitator in writing a report and creating Visio charts. All the tech
writers we have used have found this a challenging and rewarding experience.
The usual secretary cannot perform this function because it requires the
ability to interpret comments technically, the ability to organize the
sometime-chaotic comments in a meeting, and the ability to shape and write
technical reports and illustrate them graphically. Our writers also begin to
pick up a new skill--process analysis.
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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