So at about five minute intervals, he would walk into my
office, tell me excitedly about the latest and ask me to get it implemented…
pronto. For whatever reason, he must have thought that this was the deputy
chairman’s job. What’s more, I gathered that this was habitual behaviour.
After six months, I could take it no longer. So I went and
had a drink with a brilliant young couple, Brad Stackhouse and Cannon Garber,
who were doing some consulting with the agency at the time. What could I do
about the situation? I was dying.
They listened carefully and proposed two strategies and a
fallback.
Strategy 1: “You need to hire for the chairman an eager PA with
an MBA fresh out of Harvard Business School. And move that person into the
office next to the chairman (which you are currently occupying).”
Strategy 2: “Move your office to the furthest point in the
building – on the furthest floor. Shut your door. And make sure that the
chairman knows he has to arrange meetings with you in advance.”
These I implemented gratefully. Did they work? Up to a
point. The problem was: I became isolated myself.
So what about the fallback strategy? “Oh, if nothing works, you’ll
have to find another job,” said Brad. So I did.
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