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Not surprisingly, the client preferred to think that his company should be considered “important” to the
firm, and his hackles were raised. He called Landon to complain about the less-than-preferential
treatment. Even though Landon personally pulled the data together for the client and delivered it without
delay, the client raised the issue with the divisional VP at a charity fundraiser a month or so later. Grace
was very embarrassed.
Lucky for her, instead of freaking out, Landon brought her into his office and explained why that kind of
comment was likely to hit a nerve. He told Grace some stories about how he had clashed with clients back
in the day, and they ended up laughing about it all. Grace came away from the meeting with a better idea
of how to manage client relations. In fact, Landon spent a lot of time helping Grace get up to speed on
how things worked in the company and beyond. He had been a strong mentor. Grace didn’t particularly
like people telling her what to do, but she admitted to her friends that Landon was usually low-key about
it. Still, as time went by and Grace’s knowledge grew, she felt the urge to take on bigger challenges. As
her one-year anniversary with the company passed, she began to think harder about how to grow her
career and make a name for herself beyond her little work group. She had come up with two plans
designed to get things rolling.
First, she identified a problem that needed to be fixed. Right from her first day, Grace had been on the
lookout for a way to have an impact. Someone had once told her that promotions went to those who
rocked the boat but brought it safely to shore. Within a few months of starting, she realized that many
people were unhappy about the project management software the company had in place. Staff members at
all levels were often heard complaining that it didn’t do what they needed it to do, or it was too slow or it
was hard to manage. The scheduling and costing functions were particularly outdated. In truth, she
thought the whole system should be tossed out. And Grace knew just which program should be brought in
to replace it — she had learned about a great system at one of the companies in which she had interned a
couple of years before. It seemed to her that bringing in a new program and solving so many people’s
problems in one fell swoop would be a brilliant way to show she was a top contributor and should be on
the fast track to promotion. It also wouldn’t hurt that if the system was brought in, she would
automatically be the resident expert since she would be one of the few people who had any experience
with it.
To get things rolling, Grace booked a conference room and asked Landon for some time. But even though
she had prepared a full presentation with charts and graphs and a detailed implementation plan, Landon
didn’t get behind the idea. He just shook his head and listed all of the reasons why a junior employee
couldn’t push through such a thing. It just wasn’t done. According to him, the Information Technology
(IT) Department was the only one that ever made those types of changes. He explained that he was going
to be busy dealing with some quality issues that were new to him and would have no time left to get
involved with any other big projects anyway. Grace’s exasperation was apparent; later that week, she was
overheard in the lunchroom complaining to some peers that Landon was too scared to stick his neck out.
But Grace was not about to give up. If nothing else, she was persistent. She brought it up with Landon
every chance she got. She knew there must be a way to get around this roadblock. When she visited other
departments, she often asked people what they didn’t like about the project management software and told
them about the one she thought they should be using instead. Several employees had not realized that
there were better options available, and some did end up asking their bosses why the company couldn’t
invest in better tools. Grace encouraged the buzz as much as possible. She knew grassroots support could
only help her cause.
The second plan that Grace had in mind to further her career was to get to work on a high-profile
assignment. Up to that point, she had only worked on routine projects that didn’t require a lot of
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imagination or skill. From what Landon said, this was normal for someone with her tenure. But she knew
that a new facility project was starting shortly, and she wanted to be on it. The client needed help in
setting up a whole new division, and the project team would be asked to innovate in a multitude of ways.
From all accounts, it was the most important project the company had ever done and would open the door
to a lot of new work. The budget would be huge and opportunities would be thick on the ground. This
was exactly the type of chance that Grace felt she deserved. Since this was such an important job for the
company, only key players were going to be a part of it. Just being on the team would get her name
recognition at the senior management level, and it would show her colleagues that she was the competitor
they should be watching.
But again, Landon slammed the door on Grace’s dreams. He said that she needed to stay on her regular
projects. Every time Grace brought it up, Landon kept saying things such as “your time will come” and
“good things come to those who wait.” Grace was 26 years old. Didn’t Landon know she wasn’t getting
any younger?
Finally, the day came when Grace found an opportunity to take things to the next level. She spied Bill
Michaels, the VP of her division, standing alone at a company social event. She had met Bill many times
before, but they had never spoken one-on-one for any length of time. Usually his executive assistant
guarded his time obsessively, so face time wasn’t easy to get. Taking a moment to muster her courage,
Grace walked up, reintroduced herself and started her pitch for the new software program. Although Bill
looked a little bemused at what was happening, Grace was encouraged when he didn’t cut her off. She
talked as fast as she could to get all of her major points across. As she was finishing up, she could see out
of the corner of her eye that Landon was walking towards them, so she quickly asked, “So what do you
think? Just what we need, right?” Bill half-shrugged and replied, “Well, that’s certainly very interesting.
Something like that should be considered, I’m sure. I like that you’re trying to improve the company,
Grace. That’s really important, and I appreciate it.” Grace’s face flushed with excitement, but just then
Landon stepped up. He glanced at their faces, clearly trying to figure out what was happening. Grace
blurted, “I was just telling Bill about the project management software this company needs to succeed.”
Landon nodded casually and smiled as he said, “Ah, I thought that might be it. I know you feel strongly
about that, Grace. But maybe we can talk about that at the office, okay? This might not be the best time.”
As Grace’s face fell, Landon looked at Bill apologetically and said, “Sorry about that. But I meant to ask
you, did you see that movie we talked about?” The conversation quickly turned, and Grace excused
herself soon afterward. She would have liked more time to discuss things with Bill, but she could tell that
Landon was going to stop her from getting any further.
Although the next day was a Sunday, Grace decided to “strike while the iron was hot” and send a follow-
up email to Bill. In it, she reiterated the reasons why she thought the software was a good idea and asked
for a follow-up meeting to discuss the plan and the possibility of issuing a purchasing order. It took her
several hours to write up all the key points, but when she was done, she was sure she had made a strong
case. She sent the email off with a strong sense of satisfaction. As she went about her day, she
remembered a couple of other important benefits of the software and fired off two more brief emails to
Bill to supplement the original. She even found a way to mention that she was hoping to be put on the
team for the big project that was coming up. As she drifted off to sleep that night, she congratulated
herself. Even though Landon clearly wanted to keep her in her boring job indefinitely, that just wasn’t
going to happen.
At work on Monday, Grace noticed that Landon wasn’t at his desk at the start of the day. He didn’t come
in till an hour later, and he looked harried. After grabbing a coffee and settling in his office, he motioned
to Grace to come in to see him. Grace sighed but grabbed a pen and a pad of paper as she stood up to go.
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What was he going to go on about this time? As she sat down at the table in his office, she was surprised
to see him shut the door before he joined her. Usually that door stayed open.
Landon dove right in, “Thanks for coming in, Grace. I need to talk to you about something that is kind of
important.” He paused as he chose his words and then continued, “It’s about the project management
software idea. Listen, I know you are really keen on it, but you really have to stop pushing this so hard.”
He stopped to get a reaction from Grace, but when none was forthcoming, he added, “I’ve heard from a
few sources that you have been trying to get your peers primed for a change. You have really stirred
things up all over the division. A couple of other managers mentioned in our staff meeting that their
employees are complaining about putting up with this old software.” Grace smiled at that. The seeds she
had planted were starting to pay off. Clearly, lots of people were behind her. Landon looked confused at
the look on her face but continued, “Then you brought the same subject up to Bill Michaels at the
company party on Saturday. And Bill just told me about all of the emails you sent him this weekend. I
have to tell you, emailing my boss is really out of line, Grace. While Bill likes initiative generally
speaking, he really doesn’t want to deal with every random idea an employee comes up with. We have
hundreds of employees, you know. He expects things like that to be filtered through his managers — in
this case, through me. When you do this, it makes it look like I’m not doing my job. And I think I have
done my job. You and I have talked about this on multiple occasions, and I thought I explained to you
why I don’t want this department to spearhead that kind of thing right now. Was I not clear? Did you not
understand what I was saying?”
Grace felt her ire rising as she listened to this speech. Landon was trying to shut her down again, and he
was treating her like a child at the same time. This was outrageous. Why did this man have it in for her?
She replied tersely, “Yeah, I understand what you’re trying to do alright, Landon. You’re trying to keep
me in this department forever. You won’t let my ideas be heard, and you won’t let me on the new project
team. You know if I stay here, you’ll have someone to do all the dumb grunt work that no one else wants
to do.”
Landon looked stunned and sat back in his chair before he said, “What are you talking about? You are the
junior person in this department, and you do the tasks of a junior person. Since when do you hate your
job? A lot of people would love this opportunity. I thought you were one of them.” Grace rolled her eyes,
replying, “I didn’t say I hate my job, I’m just ready for more. And I deserve more, Landon. I do
everything I’m asked to do — all of my work gets done on time. Don’t you remember being my age? Are
you telling me that you would want someone holding you back if you were in my position?”
Landon looked down at his hands for several long seconds and breathed in and out deeply. Finally, he
said, “Okay. Now I see where you’re coming from. I didn’t know you felt this way, Grace. I’m really
surprised actually. To be totally candid, I don’t really know what to say at this point.” He stared out the
window of his office for a moment and then said, “Listen, why don’t we back off from this conversation
for now? When I don’t know what to do, it’s usually a good indication that I need some time to think.
Apparently we’re both feeling a little angry. I don’t want either of us to say something we’ll regret. We’ll
talk about this again in a day or two. You should go back to work now. Okay?”
Without answering, Grace stood up, opened the door and went back to her desk. She wanted to smash
something. Why in the heck would Landon be feeling angry? It was Grace who was being bullied. It just
didn’t seem fair, and she wanted to do something about it.
Ignoring her work, Grace spent the rest of the morning composing a new email to Bill. She didn’t like to
be a snitch, but it was time to stand up for herself and let Bill know how Landon was squashing good
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ideas and holding back his strongest employees. Landon couldn’t stop her from emailing Bill — this was
not a dictatorship! She was pretty confident that Bill would take her side. Only two days earlier he had
said that he liked people who tried to improve the company. Clearly, Grace was trying to help. Worst case
scenario, she figured if Landon found out, she could always go talk to Human Resources (HR) about a
transfer to another department.
Although she felt passionately that she was right, Grace continued to hesitate before pushing the send
button. Something inside told her that this was a pivotal moment in her career.
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