The Adventures of Chip Weatherbe, MBA

E-MEMO

TO:                  Sales and Marketing Staff

FROM:             Rajiv Chopra

SUBJECT:        SIMM Meeting

I was very disappointed with the team’s showing at the SIMM meeting yesterday. Frankly, I was embarrassed. I expect more out of our group. 

These internal meetings are vital to the communication success of the organization. The information we provide is critical to the decision making of other groups. The strategic direction and therefore the future success of the organization lies wholly on our shoulders. We jeopardize GIT’s very existence when we perform as we did. Assign your contribution to this meeting the highest level of seriousness and priority and be sure to produce accordingly. When the sales and marketing team drops the ball as it did, everyone takes notice.   

Additionally, you need to make every concerted effort to focus on what is important to conducting our business (i.e. serving our customers) and plan your activities accordingly. Focus only on those activities which contribute value to the forward progress of our company. The SIMM meeting is a clear example of this.   

To be specific...In the future, all tables, charts, and graphs will have a line size of no less than 1 pt and no greater than 2 point. All color slides should reflect our corporate colors. Further, use our logo wherever possible on all slides in accordance with the logo manual. Finally, make sure to run all slides and overheads by me before any presentation – I will be the final arbiter of what will be presented. You are all professionals, I expect you to use your best judgment. One might opine that I am being too harsh... rest assured... I am not.  

Dan: What is the status of the G1500 program? I did not see your status report this morning as we discussed. Why?

Linda: Make sure to arrive on time for our next team meeting. If you need assistance in allocating your time, let me know. I might suggest taking a time management seminar. Check with Gracie on the availability of arranging such a class and inform me of your progress. Verify your receipt of this request by seeing me immediately.

Kelly: Schedule a meeting with Dan, yourself, and I to discuss the pricing on the C1500 quote. This should have been addressed last week. I am in a bit of a quandary as to why it was not...

Chip: I do not want a repeat of this performance next month. We hired you under the pretense that you would provide a specified skill set. One would hope that this does not turn out to be a poor decision, one which would require immediate reversal. Review the logo manual in detail and investigate taking a Power Point class. You need to become savvier with your presentation skills. Review with me any of your work that will be shown to anyone outside this office. See me immediately regarding this. I expect more out of an MBA.

Let’s all get back on course. I expect everyone to be at the pinnacle of their performance next meeting.

Thx. – RC

And so it was that Chip carefully weighed the language in the E-memo from his manager Rajiv. As the words sank deep in his soul, the reality of his environment crystallized in his mind.  With a horrifying awareness, he realized what he had done. He had been a big fish in a small pond, but had felt unfulfilled. He had attributed his wanting for more to the small size of the company and his income. He had made the decision to venture into the unknown. He left his comfortable, small company job in search of a career filled with passion, glory, power, and more money. Instead, he realized, he had entered a quagmire of detail, bureaucracy, and chart making.  He realized that these corporate chains, these golden handcuffs that would surely imprison him and destroy his spirit, had been eagerly accepted and indeed fought for. He realized that after his relentless work and undying effort, he had finally gotten everything he had wanted; the job at a big corporation, the corporate ladder to climb, and the money. Gazing up the ladder with a dispirited heart, he realized he was on his way to the top. Chip Weatherbe, MBA, had finally made it.