Last Mile Worker

It had to be about halfway through my drive into work that I began to feel a throbbing pain in my forearms and hands. I was clutching the steering wheel so tightly as the anxiety continued to build regarding the changes happening at the office this morning. So, I decided, like any red blooded American, to search my iPod (2007 model) for the quintessential song to help me through this moment; "Eye of the Tiger" by the appropriately named band Survivor. Even I, Overwhelmed Oscar, can muster the strength to get through our companies transition to the cloud, I repeated to myself while listening to this song over and over again.   Influential Irene and I were "cube-mates", I began to share some of my thoughts with her hoping it would relieve some of my stress.   Irene, "from a technology perspective things seemed so much simpler in the late 90s and early 2000's. We all consumed and learned how to leverage software packages, institutionally installed a...

My mind drifted as I drove in to work on this perfect day.   The sun was shining, birds were chirping and traffic was flowing smoothly.   I tried to imagine what work would be like after the retirement party for Legendary Lee, a fountain of knowledge for all of us over the past two decades.   Lee was involved or led change for the organization; touching everything from internal systems and tools to external innovations to help differentiate us with our customers.   When I was 17 my Father reminded me that nobody was irreplaceable yet on this day I struggled with how questions would be answered tomorrow and who or what would fill this "knowledge void". As I pulled into the parking lot Influential Irene was sitting in her car, her eyes a bit swollen as if she had been crying. When I was having a tough day, it was Irene who I went to see, she always had this infectious smile that could brighten anyone's day.   Today was different, her and Lee were very cl...

Chaotic Chris had endured many a tongue lashing in his day but this one would take the prize.   As he stood there, focused on the words erupting from his customers' mouth, he concentrated on making sure that the expression on his face showed pure empathy.   What a dumbass, all I had to do was put a note in my calendar or better yet send the customer a meeting invitation.   Chris began to reflect on why he failed at such a simple task, surely it was because he was just too busy.    You know, a star salesman like himself, doesn’t have time for the trivial things.   Unfortunately, his lack of discipline, arrogance, self-centered attitude, dis-respect for others…   has lost him a key customer. As Chris drove home that evening, sitting in the endless traffic, his mind began to wander.   Could it be that this one incident was not isolated, instead one of many examples in an extensive list of missed activities?   Just two weeks ago his boss, ...