The “Bill of Rights”

The “Bill of Rights”
Bob was so stressed out from his second session with
the CEO that he decided to stop at the health club on
his way home—something he was beginning to do a
bit more frequently, despite his dislike of rigid
exercise routines. Once on the road, he called his wife
from his cell phone to make sure she concurred with
his plans. There was no answer, so he left a message
for her.
He did a full routine, nearly burning himself out,
then enjoyed an extraordinarily long respite in the spa
and the steam room. He watched CNN on the lockerroom
TV as he dressed. Maybe the spa, the steam
room, and CNN are the reasons I’m finally getting
more into the health club routine, he told himself.
Then—as refreshed and relaxed as he’d been in
days—he drove home at a full ten miles per hour
below the speed limit. Unusual behavior for Alwaysin-
a-Hurry Bob.
He arrived to an empty house. No wife. No
daughter. No son. Where had they all headed off to?
He was just settling in to watch the fourth quarter of
an NBA game when his family walked in.
“Dad, where were you?” his daughter
demanded—half screaming, half in tears—as she
stormed off to her room.
“Yeah, Dad. Good job,” Bob’s son added as he
grabbed a slice of cold pizza from the fridge and
headed toward his room. “We were all wondering
where you were. You promised you’d be there.”
Bob was suddenly alone—except for the chilling
fact that his disgruntled wife was still within striking
distance. “Okay, Bob, I want to know something.
Don’t you ever look at that fancy, expensive electronic
calendar of yours? How could you forget something as
important as Michelle’s line dance competition?”
“That was tonight?” Bob the Completely Out-of-
Touch Manager asked.
“Yes, Bob. It was tonight. Somehow it didn’t make
your dandy new priority list. You seem to participate
in everything at the last minute—if at all!”
Those words burned bitterly in Bob’s mind as his
wife angrily ascended the stairs to their bedroom. Her
last audible words were, “I am sure disappointed in
you, Robert. And so are your children.”
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Bob sat there for the longest time as he agonized
over his wife’s parting comments. Countless thoughts
poured through his mind.
Am I that bad a husband?
Am I that awful a father?
Am I an undesirable employee?
Am I really a Last-Minute Manager?
Bob was immersed in his thoughts and deep in
remorse when his wife quietly came back down the
stairs and slipped into the family room.
“I’m sorry, Bob. I shouldn’t have been so hard on
you, but Michelle was excited that you were going to
come to her line dance competition and when you
didn’t show, she was really hurt.”
“I’m the one who should be saying ‘I’m sorry,’”
said Bob. “I feel like a complete failure.”
“You’re not a failure, Bob,” she responded as she
wrapped her arms around him. “You’re just—we’re
just—going through a lot right now. And this so-called
Chief Effectiveness Officer isn’t making things any
easier.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Bob suggested. “I
think she may be helping me see things in a different
light, even though it didn’t help tonight. In fact, today
I got another mystery envelope. I’m going to get
through it, no matter what. I don’t care how unusual
The “Bill of Rights”/ 47
this whole process is, I’m going to stick with it to the
end. I’m going to get taken off probation. And, blast it,
from now on, I’m not going to be known as a lastminute
manager!”
Bob headed for the study. He opened the
envelope and pulled out a single sheet of paper. There
were no questions to answer. Just a short list of
thoughts to consider.
PROPRIETY: THE BILL OF RIGHTS
• Do the right thing.
• Do it for the right reasons.
• Do it with the right people.
• Do it at the right time.
• Do it in the right order.
• Do it with intensity.
• Do it for the right results.
Bob studied the words, then studied them some
more. He thought about the events that had just taken
place that evening.
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If this means what I think it does, I violated the
rights of my family in a big way tonight. I sure didn’t
do the right thing. The right thing would have been to
attend Michelle’s competition. I could’ve been there if
I had just taken ten seconds to check my schedule. The
right reason is because she’s my daughter and she
wants me to see her perform. The right people? Well,
that would be my family. There’s no question that I did
everything at the wrong time in the wrong order for
the wrong results. I think I need to apologize—and do
it with intensity.
Bob stuffed the sheet of paper back into the
envelope and went to find his daughter. He took her
in his arms and said, “Michelle, I can’t begin to tell
you how sorry I am that I missed your competition. I
just blew it. I have no excuse. I don’t know how I can
make it up to you but I’ll try. I promise you one thing,
though. You’re going to see some changes in my
behavior. I want to be a part of your life and be a dad
you can love and be proud of.”
Michelle looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
“Thanks, Dad.”
The world is suddenly a better place, Bob thought
as he headed down the hall to his son’s room to finish
the night’s apologies. When he finally climbed into
bed with his wife, they didn’t say anything, but just
hugged each other.
The “Bill of Rights”/ 49
• • •
Bob the More Determined Manager actually showed
up for his appointment with the CEO five minutes
early. I hope she notices! She didn’t. Or if she did, she
didn’t acknowledge it.
“What do you think about the second P?” she asked.
“I personally discovered last night that ‘propriety’
not only helps us determine what our priorities should
be, but also what needs to be done to ensure that what
we do is high quality,” Bob said confidently.
“You’re right. That’s exactly it.”
“I imagine it will take some time and practice for
me to be able to apply the Bill of Rights to all of my
priorities on a consistent basis.”
“It will,” the CEO agreed. “But if you stick with
me, you’ll discover that I’ve found some unique ways
to help you with that.”
“What ways?”
“Here’s a simple example: I’m going to begin to
deliver a daily voicemail message for interested
employees. Anyone in the company will have the
option of dialing a special extension to listen to it. I’ve
researched all sorts of little nuggets of time-tested,
life-changing wisdom from a variety of sources, and I
will be sharing them in those brief messages.”
“Do you have an example of these nuggets?” Bob
the Still Somewhat Skeptical Manager asked.
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“Sure. Here’s one you’ve heard, I imagine. ‘What
a person plants, he or she will harvest.’”
“I’ve heard that. ‘As you sow, so shall you reap,’
right?”
“That’s it. Of course, this is not simply about corn
or beans or wheat. It’s about life in general. If parents
don’t spend time with their kids when they’re young—
teaching them right from wrong and listening to their
thoughts and dreams—they can’t expect to have good
relationships with them later in life. They can’t count
on their kids to make sound decisions, either. So that’s
a priority.”
“That makes sense,” Bob the Still Feeling Guilty
Father said. “And I guess you could say that particular
thought is time-tested.”
“How about this thought? ‘Two wrongs don’t
make a right.’”
“I’ve heard that one, too.”
“As true as that seems to be, we have a twist on
that saying, based on the Bill of Rights. ‘Two rights
don’t make a wrong.’ No matter what decision is
facing you, if you can apply two or more of the ‘rights’
to the situation, you’ll seldom go wrong. The more
rights you bring to the situation, the better the
outcome will likely be.”
“Interesting thought,” said Bob.
The “Bill of Rights”/ 51
“Here’s another one: ‘Treat others the way you
would like to be treated.’”
Bob jumped right in again. “You mentioned that
one the first day we met. ‘Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you.’”
“Right again. The point is, that’s one of the timetested
truths that serves as a guideline for how our
company intends to conduct business now and in the
future. Far too many businesses operate under the
principle ‘Do others in before they do you in.’”
“That’s the truth,” Bob agreed.
“In our company, our long-term goal is to do our
best to make sure that everyone comes out ahead—
our customers, our suppliers, our coworkers, and, yes,
even our managers and upper-level executives. Our
new goal will be to make certain that we never have a
labor-management conflict again. Our people need to
trust management—and vice versa.”
“That’s an impressive goal!” Bob the Impressed
Manager exclaimed.
“Not so impressive when we understand what our
priorities are, and how the principles of propriety
mesh with them.”
“Still, our company has never thought this way
before. I guess that’s why I’m amazed.”
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“As you can probably guess, most of my morning
phone messages will apply my nuggets of wisdom to
the Three P’s and the Bill of Rights.”
“I assume you have specific definitions for all of
the points on the Bill of Rights, then,” Bob supposed.
“I do, but I’m hoping that you’ll give me your
definitions.”
Bob eagerly agreed to take on this latest
assignment.
“What do you imagine we mean by ‘Do the right
thing’?” the CEO asked.
“I’d guess you mean that there’s right and wrong,
and you want our people to choose what’s right over
what’s wrong,” Bob suggested.
“We sure do. But how do you know what’s ‘right’
and what’s ‘wrong’?”
“You got me there,” Bob confessed. “Instincts,
maybe?”
“Good instincts help, but I like to use what’s
become known as The Ethics Check,” said the CEO.
“When confronted by a potential ethical problem—
where right and wrong may be at odds—I ask myself
three questions:
1. Is it legal?
Will I be violating either civil law or company
policy?
The “Bill of Rights”/ 53
2. Is it balanced?
Is it fair to all concerned in the short term as well
as in the long term? Does it promote win-win
relationships?
3. How will it make me feel about myself?
Will it make me proud?
Would I feel good if my decision were to be
published in the newspaper?
Would I feel good if my family knew about it?
“The first question is about legality, the second
about fairness, and the third involves self-esteem.
Most people only ask the legal question. But there are
times when something may be legal but not ethical.”
“Can you give me an example?”
“Sure,” the CEO replied. “We’ve all read about
examples where something was legal in terms of
accounting procedures, but unfair to coworkers,
customers, and stockholders. If the top managers
knew that what they did was going to be made public,
they probably would have thought twice about it.”
Bob reflected on her words for a moment.
“You’re right. Just because something is legal doesn’t
make it right. You have to ask all three questions.
That’s powerful.”
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“I think so,” said the CEO with a smile. “But the
next principle—do it for the right reasons—is a bit
more tricky.”
“What do you mean ‘tricky’?”
“It has to do with motives. Think about Martin
Luther King, Jr., for example. He did the right thing.
He worked for civil rights. But did he do it for
personal fame? Did he do it to make money? Or did
he do it to help millions of people attain equality?”
“For equality,” Bob quickly replied.
“Right! Although he never made a fortune as the
result of his efforts, he did achieve a measure of fame.
But that was merely a by-product of his efforts to
erase the boundaries of race and color. His goal was—
according to The Ethics Check motto—to ‘promote
win-win relationships.’”
“Yet he died from an assassin’s bullet,” Bob
observed.
“True. Doing the right thing for the right reasons
offers no assurance of personal safety or freedom from
pain. Last-minute managers often do everything
possible to avoid personal pain, but true leaders do
what needs to be done to alleviate the pain of others.”
“So do you really think that Martin Luther King,
Jr., was willing to die for his cause?”
The “Bill of Rights”/ 55
“I’d guess that he never imagined he would die in
the way he did, but I believe he knew that his cause
was just and that he would have an enduring impact.”
“How does this all relate to ‘Do it with the right
people’?”
The CEO thought for a moment. “I believe that
when it comes to working with others, there are two
levels of interaction—form and essence. Form
involves the kinds of work you do together and how
you do that work. Essence operates on a deeper level:
‘heart to heart’ and ‘values to values.’
“To me, essence comes before form. I need to know
who people are before I decide to do something with
them. I prefer to do things—whether they are business
assignments or social events—with other people who
practice the Three P’s. For example, if I were to form a
partnership with someone who didn’t share my values
and want to do the right thing, I could open myself up to
a lot of conflict. I’d rather work with people who keep
their word and can be trusted. If I tell someone
something in confidence I don’t want to read it the next
day in an e-mail sent out to the entire company.”
Bob grasped her point immediately. “My
daughter told something to her best friend in
confidence, and her friend spread it all over school.
She was heartbroken.”
56 / The “Bill of Rights”
“It’s a tough lesson for anyone to learn,” the CEO
agreed. “And the reality is, even the best managers
can’t always pick the right people. But we can avoid
the most obvious mistakes. We don’t go to our
automobile mechanic to diagnose health problems,
and we don’t ask our doctors to tune up our engines.”
Bob laughed. “You’re right.”
“The same principle applies in organizations.
Last-minute managers do not make good partners.”
Bob the Feeling-Guilty-as-Charged Manager
swallowed the lump in his throat and asked, “Um . . .
what’s next?”
“The next ‘do it,’ of course, is ‘Do it at the right
time.’ This all gets back to the whole issue of
‘Priority.’ There’s a time to meet with clients. There’s
a time to see your doctor if you have a health concern.
Since you can’t possibly do everything at the same
time, part of setting your priorities and producing
high quality work is doing things at the right time.
“A rock band my dad used to listen to—the
Byrds—did a song written by Pete Seeger called
‘Turn, Turn, Turn.’ The lyrics were:
“‘To everything . . . turn, turn, turn . . .
There is a season . . . turn, turn, turn . . .
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
The “Bill of Rights”/ 57
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.’”
“I love that old song!” Bob said with a smile.
The CEO continued, “Knowing ‘what time it is’ is
important. If I want to have a child, when should I be
thinking about that? When I’m thirty? Or when I’m
seventy?”
“When you’re thirty, of course.”
“Right! And if our company is to sustain our
success, all of our managers have to be keenly aware
of timing. Sometimes it’s not just being on time. There
is often a need to be early. A last-minute manager may
meet the deadline, but the truly effective person often
achieves the objectives ahead of schedule, so that the
results can be tweaked—and even perfected.”
“So you’re saying that adding a cushion of time
offers the opportunity to do ‘more, better, faster,
differently,’ and with less chance for error?”
“You’ve got it, Bob! Our most productive people
will need to understand that some things have to
happen before other things can—or should—happen.
They will ‘Do it in the right order.’”
“First things first, in other words?” Bob posed.
“Exactly,” the CEO agreed. “A builder doesn’t
put the roof on a house until the walls are up, and the
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walls can’t go up before the foundation is poured. The
foundation can’t be poured before the ground is
leveled, and the ground can’t be leveled until the
surveyors have done their work. And the surveyors
have to rely on the blueprints for the house to get all
of the elevations correct. Can’t have rainwater flowing
down the driveway into the garage.”
“I understand. I watched all of that take place
when we had our new house built a few years ago,”
Bob concurred.
“It’s clear, then, that the first step is always the
plan—the blueprint. It’s impossible to build a house
without a plan, just as it’s impossible to build a
company without a plan. In our case, our plan will be
our ‘Mission Statement’—our reason for being. I
believe that last-minute managers either fail to
understand the vision, or they lose sight of it. On-time,
on-target managers are always guided by the vision.”
“I’m afraid the ‘vision’ thing doesn’t do much for
me,” Bob confessed.
“What do you mean exactly?” the CEO asked.
“I think that we have a hokey, overblown mission
statement that essentially means nothing. It says
something like, ‘Our mission is to be the leading
supplier in our market niche by providing technically
innovative products and stellar personal service to our
customers in a timely manner.’”
The “Bill of Rights”/ 59
“I know what you’re saying,” the CEO agreed.
“Sometimes I think that the people who write these
things simply compile long strings of lofty-sounding
words and call them mission statements.”
“That’s why people have difficulty buying into
them, I think,” Bob said.
“Are you saying, ‘The simpler the better’?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
“I have a perfect example for you, then. The
Phoenix, Arizona, Fire Department is one of the most
highly regarded fire departments in the nation. It has
1,549 employees who respond to approximately
128,000 calls a year, yet zero employee grievances a
year is the norm, and two grievances is considered a
flood.”
“That’s unheard of,” said Bob. “How do they pull
that off?”
“A relative of mine works for the department. He
told me about the fire chief, Alan Brunacini, who has
been the head of the department for well over two
decades. One of the first things he did when he
stepped into the position was to trim the hundreds of
rules down to a few essentials that fit on a single sheet
of paper. Another key action was to give each
employee a card that offered seven guidelines for
firefighter empowerment, along with eight essentials
of customer service.”
60 / The “Bill of Rights”
“Customer service? What’s that all about?” Bob
wondered.
“Chief Brunacini has communicated to his people
that they are there to serve people—not just save
buildings.”
“That sure seems like a sound philosophy,” Bob
observed.
“The chief’s most important decisions were to
steer his department away from a punitive
environment—the ‘it’s my way or the highway’
attitude—and to ‘walk the talk.’ The members of the
leadership team were coached to live the principles
they espoused.”
“They had to practice what they preached, right?”
“Right.”
“What does all this have to do with mission?”
“What the chief did, Bob, was essentially distill
the mission of his department down to five simple
words: ‘Prevent harm, survive, be nice.’”
“That’s their mission statement? That’s it?”
The CEO smiled. “In a nutshell. But don’t you
see what’s behind it? It encompasses much of the
Three P Strategy. The priorities are clear. ‘Prevent
harm’ is the first priority. ‘Survive’ is right behind that.
And ‘be nice’ is crucial to customer service. It’s all
there in five words.”
All Bob could say in reply was, “Amazing!”
The “Bill of Rights”/ 61
The CEO continued. “Those five words also say
something about propriety. The Phoenix firefighters
are doing the right thing—preventing harm—for the
right reasons—saving lives. They are also doing it with
the right people—their comrades who share in the
vision and who also seek to prevent harm. Obviously,
they’re doing it at the right time, but they also do it all
in the right order. Their equipment is maintained
properly so that it can help them perform on the job.
When they respond to a fire call, they deploy the
equipment properly—they use it to save lives first and
save buildings second. Ladders before hoses.”
“That’s a great mission statement for a fire
department,” Bob admitted. “But why is ours so lame?”
“I’m glad you asked that question, Bob. Because
we’re going to develop a vision for our company, one
that not only has a clear purpose or mission statement,
but also tells us where we’re going—our picture of the
future—and what’s going to guide our journey—our
values. And you’re going to be a part of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“As you implied, Bob, when the vision is
unclear—or fuzzy—the results are fuzzy. People tend
to procrastinate when they don’t have a clear picture
of who they are, where they are at this moment, and
where they want to go. After all, if they don’t know
where they’re going, they have no clue whether the
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next action they take—the next activity they engage
in—will help take them there.”
“I think I understand,” Bob ventured. “Why do
something unless you are clear what the outcome will
be? In that case, I think I’d do something else.”
“Right!” the CEO agreed, obviously pleased with
what she had heard. “On the job, the top priority
should be to accomplish those tasks that contribute to
the vision. Because there’s a limit to the number of
available hours in a day, some things that do not
contribute to the vision—including all those
magazines we talked about yesterday—will have to be
‘triaged’ off the agenda.”
“So you’re saying that we will have a clearly
defined vision for our company?” Bob the Finally-
Starting-to-Get-It Manager wondered.
“We sure will. Every employee will be involved in
its creation, so that everyone has an opportunity to
buy into it. A compelling vision will be grounded on
our past but focused on our future. So the purpose of
everything we do in the present will be designed to
lead us into tomorrow. Our vision will be very
straightforward and we will express it in simple terms.
It will help us know who we are, why we are here, and
where we are going. We know there will be fires in our
future, so we know we have to be properly equipped
to extinguish them.”
The “Bill of Rights”/ 63
“Makes sense to me. But I’m eager to learn more
about the other points on your ‘Bill of Rights’ list, and
I’d sure like to know how they all fit together.”
The CEO smiled. “Bob, I like your enthusiasm
for what we’re doing here.”
Bob laughed. “I have to be enthusiastic. This is
about my job, remember?”
The CEO smiled and said, “The next one, as
you’ll recall, is ‘Do it with intensity.’”
“By that, you must mean ‘Put your heart into it,’”
Bob the Winging-It Manager suggested.
“Right again! Intensity is part enthusiasm, part
passion, part skill, and part unwavering devotion.
Think about great basketball stars, outstanding
Olympic athletes, or champion golfers or tennis
players. A loss—a setback—never diminishes their
intensity. Because they are enthusiastic, passionate,
well trained, and devoted, they are not set back by
setbacks. They can take a huge blow and get right
back in the game. The players who lack intensity drop
out when they confront obstacles.”
Bob thought for a minute. “What you’re saying, I
guess, is ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get
going.’”
“That’s the popular cliché, of course. But what I
believe intensity means is that the ‘tough’ are already
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going strong, so when the going gets tough, they have
enough momentum behind them to mow over the
obstacles in their path.”
“Wow! I never looked at it that way,” Bob
confessed. “That’s great!”
“I’m glad you see it. My belief is that
circumstances don’t create men and women, but
rather, men and women create their circumstances.
Last-minute managers allow things to happen to
them, while on-time, on-target managers make things
happen.”
Bob was puzzled. “Okay, how do they really do
that?”
“I believe there are four keys:
• They lead by example.
• They serve others.
• They ask for the things they need from others.
• They welcome and appreciate the
contributions of others.
“Here’s an example. I’m a football fan. And I’ve
noticed that a really good NFL quarterback can do all
of those things in the space of twenty or thirty
seconds.”
The “Bill of Rights”/ 65
“I watch a lot of football myself,” Bob said, “but
I’m afraid you’ve lost me on that one.”
“I’ve seen it countless times. A quarterback gets
sacked for a huge loss. He’s bruised. He’s hurting. But
he goes right back into the huddle and tells the other
ten guys what he needs from them on the next down.
He calls the play, hands the ball off to a running back,
and then it may even be necessary for him to throw a
block that turns the play into extra yards. When the
whistle blows the play dead, he congratulates his
fellow players on a job well done and then he calls
another play.”
I’m floored! It sounds as though the Chief
Effectiveness Officer has an actual life, Bob thought.
But aloud he admitted, “I could use some additional
explanation.”
“It seems to me that the winning quarterbacks
out there see the victory as the ultimate goal, but they
also see each play as a part of the victory. If the play
moves the ball a few more yards downfield toward the
immediate goal—a touchdown—that play contributes
to the win. But if there’s no gain, or there’s a loss—or
even worse, a penalty—”
“There’s no contribution toward the goal.” Bob
concluded triumphantly.
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“Right again,” the CEO agreed. “On the next play,
then, they have another opportunity to make things
happen. They never, ever lose their intensity. And
through their own intense play, they inspire the other
members of the team to reach for their best, too.”
“Now I get it!” Bob announced. “Last-minute
managers get so focused on the immediate moment
that they lose sight of the big picture. The small
defeats sap their intensity and they simply fail to
perform. The intense players are focused on the game
plan. They keep coming back into the game,
determined to move the team toward the ultimate
goal. Toward the win.”
“You’ve got it. And I noticed that you said
‘players’ and not just ‘player.’ You obviously recognize
that no quarterback, no matter how talented he is, can
win the game on his own. And no team, no matter how
skilled or devoted it is, can win without a good
quarterback.”
“What you’re saying must be that intensity has to
be part of a shared vision.”
The CEO was pleased by what she heard.
“Exactly! I think you’re ready to consider the next
‘right.’ And that’s ‘Do it for the right results.’”
Bob’s puzzled expression was once again the
CEO’s signal to continue.
The “Bill of Rights”/ 67
“Would you like to believe that you made the world
a better place by virtue of your being here, Bob?”
“Yes! Of course! And I realize that the day-to-day
decisions that I make as I interact with other people
will have an impact on my ability to achieve that end.”
“That’s a great way to look at it. But let’s look at
the opposite side. Bob, one of the worst dilemmas a
company ever has to face is layoffs. After all, no
manager who seeks to do the right thing for the right
results wants to put loyal people out of work.”
“That’s a tough decision,” Bob agreed.
“Here’s the thing, though. If a company—or even
a department—is losing money, and if the losses could
eventually bring the company to financial ruin, would
you lay off a few people to save the jobs of many
more? Or would you hang on, hoping for a
turnaround?”
Bob pondered the question for a moment, then
finally concluded, “Like I said, it’s a tough decision.”
“Okay, let’s make it even tougher. Let’s suppose
that we have reason to believe the company can
ultimately survive if we don’t make any personnel
cuts. But let’s say that we have a group of angry
stockholders who get together at the shareholders’
meeting and demand that we do something drastic.”
“That’s easy. Our employees’ jobs are more
important than our stockholders’ concerns.”
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“Good thought,” the CEO conceded. “But what if
one of the stockholders is an elderly person—your
mom or dad maybe—who is counting on that
investment in that company’s stock to see him or her
through the remaining years of life. What then? How
are layoffs, or no layoffs, going to impact the results?”
“I don’t know,” Bob admitted.
“I don’t know either. Don’t you see? It all ties
together. To solve that problem, you have to connect
all of the ‘rights’ into one on-time, on-target decision.
A last-minute manager is immobilized by fear. Usually,
it’s the fear of making a wrong decision. So he or she is
going to procrastinate—avoid making any decision—
and everyone could suffer as a result. A few employees
could be laid off too late, the stock recovery could
happen too late, a devastating loss of confidence in the
company could be the result, the company could fail,
and, ultimately, your mom or dad could lose every
dime invested in the stock. Procrastination is a killer.”
“It really is all connected!”
“It sure is,” the CEO said. “So your assignment
for tomorrow is to figure out what you’d do in this
situation. Determine your priorities, then run through
the Bill of Rights. I’m sure you’ll come up with a great
plan.”
With that, she stood up to escort him to the door.
The “Bill of Rights”/ 69
“What about the third P?” Bob wondered aloud.
“You haven’t told me about it yet. Wouldn’t that be
something that could help me with my decision?”
“Might be. But not right now. Your assignment is
to figure it all out. The third P will help you know what
to do after you’ve come up with the answer.”
This hardly seems fair, Bob the Muttering
Manager mumbled to himself as he left the CEO’s
office. It would certainly help if I knew the third P.