The First Test

The First Test
When Bob the Last-Minute Manager got home,
his wife told him that the kids were “really in the
mood for pizza,” so they ordered the largest one
available—the stuffed-crust variety with lots of
toppings.
Bob’s wife wanted to hear about every detail of
his day. “How did your session with the Chief
Whatever go today?” she asked between her first and
second slices of pizza.
“Cthief Effectiveneth Offither,” Bob replied, his
mouth full of mozzarella. “It went really fine, I
guesth.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Bob swallowed and responded, “She seems like a
sincere person. I mean, she really cares about the
company and all of us employees. But there are so
many things about ‘The Process’ that I don’t
understand.”
“For example . . . ?”
“Okay, for example, she told me about the first
P—Priority—and handed me a sealed envelope. It’s
some kind of test, apparently, and I have to find a
quiet place after dinner to fill it out.”
“Very unusual,” Bob’s wife agreed. “But didn’t you
tell me there are three P’s? How about the other two?”
“I have no idea. I guess she’ll tell me tomorrow.”
Bob helped clean up after dinner, and when the kids
had finally shuffled off to bed, he settled behind his
desk in the study. He opened the envelope expecting
to find a lengthy test comprised of perhaps dozens of
probing questions. Instead, he pulled out a single
sheet of paper that, along with a place to write his
name and the date, bore exactly two questions.
1. Please rank the following personal and business
priorities in order by placing numbers from 1 to 7
in front of them (1 being the most important).
_____ Health and Fitness
_____ Faith/Spiritual Life
_____ Career
_____ Spouse and/or Family
24 / The First Test
_____ Friends
_____ Education/Knowledge
_____ Recreation/Sports
Bob studied the list for the longest time. Do I
prioritize them according to how I think the CEO
wants me to, or according to what I really believe? he
wondered.
He thought some more. I suppose I should list
career first and family second. Need the career to
support the family, right?
After considerable rehashing, Bob eventually
settled on his priorities, placing “Recreation/Sports”
in sixth place, just a nick above “Faith/Spiritual Life,”
which finished dead last. I suppose this could be a
huge mistake, since I got a sense, in an offhanded sort
of way that she is a spiritual person . . .
Bob moved on to the second question. This one
seemed even more bizarre than the first.
2. Please rank these events according to their
priority in your life today. In other words, which
one of these responsibilities would rise to the top
of your “to do” list, assuming they were all on
your list at the same time?
The First Test / 25
_____ A personal doctor’s appointment you’ve
had for three weeks
_____ Your child’s (or niece’s or nephew’s) game,
concert, or recital
_____ A family health emergency
_____ A meeting scheduled at the request of your
employer
_____ An appointment with an important
customer
_____ A long-planned evening out with friends
_____ A “date” with your spouse or significant
person
Bob had long believed that “work comes first,”
and that his primary allegiance had to be to his
employer, so he ranked the meeting with his employer
and the appointment with an important customer
ahead of a long-planned evening out with friends and
a date with his spouse. He struggled more with the
child’s game, concert, or recital and the illness of a
family member. Right up there in importance, he
thought. The “no-brainer” on this list was the personal
doctor’s appointment. That could wait. After all, he
always makes me wait!
26 / The First Test
When Bob had finished, he noticed one last
instruction on the page:
Before returning this questionnaire, please look
up the word “Priority” in your dictionary.
I probably should have done this first, he said to
himself as he pulled the dictionary from the bookshelf
and began to flip through the pages. On page 1131, he
read this definition:
pri-or-i-ty
(1) being earlier or more important, precedence
in rank or order, the right to be first; (2)
something that is more important than other
items or considerations.
That’s pretty much what I thought. Bob made a
mental note of the definition, returned the dictionary
to the shelf, and stuffed the questionnaire back into
the envelope.
As he climbed into his bed hoping for a good
night’s sleep, an uneasy thought drifted in and out of
his mind. What if she doesn’t like my answers?