Embrace...

To clasp in or hold with the arms, usually in affection.  To take up; adopt as a cause; accept.

I was watching re-runs of NBC's The Office last night and saw "the coup" episode where Dwight tries to take over the office from Michael.  In the end, Michael suggests they "hug it out..."  The original reference comes from the HBO series Entourage.  This isn't exactly the kind of embrace I was thinking about, but it's an interesting form of conflict resolution.

I was thinking more about how we adopt - or fail to adopt - new directions.  I had lunch with an old friend the other day who's now the publicist for one of the top country-western singers in the world.  She explained how challenging it is to deal with all the conflicting interests, especially the agents.  When her approach gets overruled, she said that instead of sulking, she "takes the bad idea and owns it" as if it were hers.  She said she would never want to be seen working against anyone or against the best interests of her client.  Interesting.

I'm not sure I'm always as disciplined as my friend, but I'm working on it.  How about you?  Do you go full force into ideas you think are wrong?  If there's no way to change them and you've done your best, that's what needs to be done.  That's the hardest part of teamwork, but required if you really want to stay on the team.  Next time, your idea will fly.  In the meantime, just hug it out.

--Dave

Comments

[that friend you had lunch with...]

well, just in the interest of personal integrity and the lazy communication of catching up with an old friend...

teamwork means you have to embrace ideas that are not your own,
but it never means accepting things that are wrong
NEVER
and to articulate dissension without ruffling too many feathers is critical, because that can make the need to embrace that much more intense, pitched and personal

fact is:
i once had to say to said client, "please step off the bus..."
when we were alone, i explained, i could NOT let someone else handle a tabloid issue; if my calling the publication in question was going to jeopardize his life (his wife knew better), then i wanted to him to fire me... right there.... between us, not as a power-struggle/play with the woman he was married to... because i would not be intimidated into going along with something i knew in my core was wrong.

he looked me in the eye. he could see i was shook and also concerned.
"i'm not firing you," he said.

in the end, i was right. it was the right thing to do... and i got torn to shreds by the woman's boss. but my client was safe. my conscience was clear.

THAT is the right kind of embrace... not just going along with something to keep the peace, or for the sake of advancement.

hey, it's a big world. we can't know everything. sometimes we have to concede. we don't have to act like brats or babies, throwing tantrums cause we don't get our way. then it's not hugging it out, it's mommy, pick me up.. and that's anything but how i wanna be seen in business