What a Day ….
Wednesday did not start out normally and it just got more challenging from there. Woke up bright and early at my usual 315am. But, because of a telecon with our VP in Houston, I was in the office by 445am making final preparations for the telecon review. Review started promptly at 6am. For the most part, it went well … but we had one hitch on costs that spun us off …. two sets of numbers were being reported. Consistency is key to our company …. and two sets of numbers are unacceptable. Thus, our VP was not happy and neither was our country manager.
I’m the numbers guy …. and quickly became the point man for running the issue to ground. By 630am (still in the meeting) I was already texting people with the proverbial “Houston, I think we have a problem” statement. Spent the entire morning trying to ferret out the issue and by 2pm had reached a preliminary answer. By 5pm we had the answer. Now for damage control. My role in damage control is deminimus – I’m not responsible for generating and reporting these particular numbers. However, it is my job to help ensure we obtain the right answer … and we understand the answer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t brought into the process early enough to avert the reporting of a bad number – another lesson learned for those doing our reporting.
While at the same time the above was going on, we had some major challenges associated with year-end govt related reporting. I am a stickler for “for following the guidelines” and squeezing people pretty hard when they don’t. Thus, I was in the “squeeze mode” all day long …. never accepting “no” or “I don’t know’ or “we’ve always done it this way” for answers. I know that some people dislike me because of my personality and my insistence of “following the rules” … but, that is what I get paid for … and training and mentoring folks correctly includes teaching them the rules and teaching them to follow the rules.
Hopefully today will be a MUCH smoother day …. before too long we will be starting our yearly planning process again (yep, hard to believe) and there are many things I need to accomplish before we get there.
Other than the above, not much to write about right now …. I’ll try to write more on the “personal front” over the next few days / weeks. In the meantime, take care, be safe. GBU.
Ciao ciao.
