Well that seems familiar…

A few of my close friends - hi Jason … hi Joe …can attest to the fact that when there is something that needs to get done - a “crisis” per say - I become very um…“focused.” Some of these friends say I change into my alter ego “Mr. CRM” in reference to an initiative I spent the better part of my time working on in my civilian career. This is my business face I suppose. The take charge, move out, make things happen and heaven help the individual or group there-of that gets in the way. Today the Al Askari mosque was attacked… again. This is the same Golden Domed Mosque of Samara that was blown up over a year ago and is attributed to initiating the wave of sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq since. While everything that happens here can be considered a “crisis” this one has the potential of really shocking the system. We had to start moving on this before we were over come by events. It is in this framework of changing our days plan that the following moment happened…

We have had a group of new folks around giving an assessment of our performance and implementing much needed organizational changes. It’s having a positive effect. Funny thing is I am the subject matter expert on some of these items and folks are asking my advice. Today one in particular told me he was having trouble getting around a rather difficult roadblock in the form of an “ego.” When I advised my shipmate on how to how to “Smartly address this ego with a couple of grenades and fifty pound sledge hammer he turned to me with great concern and said, “This guy is definitely not going to like you or me...” Without thinking I abruptly stopped, spun on heel and looked my friend directly in the eye and in a most serious and official tone channeled these words…“I didn’t come here to make friends… I came here to get it DONE!” I added a couple other choice words about 1) what I think of people who use their egos to gate-keep and block progress 2) how he might also want to spend more time getting it done less time worrying about friends and 3) if he really needed a friend which one of us he would rather have on the “friendly” side of the fence but that is of little consequence here. What is important is the familiar look I saw in this guys face as he stared back at me. Um - hi Jason… hi Joe… It was something in between “did someone get the name of that bus that just hit me?” and “Sir Yes Sir How - High Sir!”

I’m not sure he knew what hit him. For that matter I’m not sure what I threw at him. You see there is a subconscious part of me that just naturally stands up and takes charge of any given situation. I don’t know where it comes from it’s just always been there. The result… well the roadblock is gone and as for the crisis… initial feedback is that we are managing our area very well.

This incident tells me I’m coming into my own around here. As my friends Joe and Jason will say I not only know where to find the grenades, more importantly I know when and how to lob them for effect.