Microstory 407: Floor 36 (Part 1)

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Even with our current problems, I believe that I’ve done a fine job keeping up with industry trends, and have successfully piloted my company into the future. It’s my responsibility to see both where other companies are headed, and also what they’re missing, so that I can exploit opportunities for growth. I did not technically go to school for this. I actually earned a degree in art history. Why did I do this? Well, you see, it happened to be one of the smaller programs at my institution. This left me more time to study other subjects. And when I speak of other subjects, I’m talking about nearly all of them. I took an introductory course for almost every single field offered. It was more important to me that I have a working knowledge of all subject matter, and to not be an expert in any one of them. My intention was to rise up the ranks of an organization and become some bigwig executive. I suppose you could say that I succeeded in this, but what I’ve discovered is something so much greater than power. My array of education has allowed me to foster relationships with a multitude of employees. I speak a little bit of everyone’s technical jargon, so that when they have a problem, I can at least understand the gist of it. This has allowed me to direct future projects where they should go. I don’t see departments, divisions, or teams. I just see the whole company, and its many parts, working in tandem to build something beautiful. Yes, the current state of affairs has proved that we have gone the other way, but this was not something I could have predicted. I can encourage the executives, managers, and general workforce to go in a particular direction, but that will only get them so far. They must use their own education and experience to actually implement the necessary changes in order to accomplish that. I am only one person, and I don’t have the time or resources to focus on any of the details. I only know what I’m told, and I am beginning to suspect that a great deal of our issues were not being reported to me, and possibly not to anyone who needed to hear it. I feel bad for how things have turned out, but now I must concentrate on myself, and reorganize my priorities. I have to do everything I can to avoid becoming the scapegoat. Wait, what was that? In the atrium.