The Decision Has Been Made...Time To Move On!

Ok, I know that after such a HUGE decision, there has to be some time allowed to process it; I think of it as either the "basking" in the glow effect or the "bitching" pissing and moaning effect. Both are likely a bit extreme, but, it's all part of the gig.

This brings to my mind, though, a comparison with a) my decision making style and b) how things are typically run in the corporate world (when making critical personnel decisions).

I've taken more "personality" type tests and been evaluated until this way from Tuesday so many times I can't even recall them all. However, one in particular sticks out and I've never forgotten it and that was one on decision making styles. Maybe it's because I was given it at Cornell University at the end of one of the most memorable weeks of my life (for other reasons)? I don't know. Anyway, the result was this (paraphrased):

"You tend to gather quite a bit of information pertaining to the decision at hand before you decide. You are fairly objective about the data and process it in combination with what you already know. It may take you a while to make the decision but, once you do, you are satisfied with your choice and don't typically second guess yourself or want to enter into conversations of "what could have been done differently?""

Yep, that's me alright. I'm not saying it is the BEST style, it's just the way I am.

The other comparison is the personnel one. As a former HRD, I used to have to coordinate the process of selecting people for fairly critical roles in the organization. This meant determining who should be considered within the organization, going outside the organization to find others to also consider, and setting up a team who would then interview all candidates (sometimes more than once) and make a recommendation to the VP who would make the ultimate decision (he'd also interview them but his interviews were notoriously short...refer to another of my Blog posts about interviewing with him with a "Hello! My Name is Amy!" name tag stuck to my butt).

I can assure you that there was usually A LOT of discussion, haggling, arguing, etc. amongst the panel members over the candidates. RARELY did one jump out as the obvious contender. We'd sometimes sit in those meetings for hours going back and forth (sort of like a jury trying to reach a verdict). Ultimately, we'd come to some sort of terms, perhaps it meant putting forth two candidates for the VP to elect from.

And he would, and we'd all accept whomever he picked. Because, we'd done everything we could do, offered our opinions, made our arguments. In the end, we had no choice but to stand behind the person who made the decision and to do our best to support the person who had been selected. To do otherwise would have been counter-productive AND we would have all looked like a bunch of idiots to our employees and to our competition.

I feel the same way about this Presidential election.

Hey, not everyone is pleased about the outcome. That is understandable and to be expected. But, we all (hopefully) participated in the process. (BTW, if YOU did not vote, just shut up, I don't want to hear a word out of your mouth because you have not earned the right to even comment on who was elected!) And, we made our decision and we provided our input by voting for whomever we voted for. If the person we voted for won, we're probably feeling pretty happy. If not, we're probably feeling sorta glum. Again, perfectly understandable.

But, the decision's been made. There is no other option now. It is what it is. Time to put aside all the differences and get behind the candidate so that he can be successful.

Obama has a TOUGH TOUGH TOUGH road a head of him. As would have McCain. In general, I think the "world" is happy with the decision. What sort of fools will we look like if we continue to wail and cry over it? I'm not saying one must be a Zombie and mindlessly "accept" everything, but, let us at least put on some show of unity and maybe, just maybe, it'll go from an act to reality.

As a complete aside, I have to say it WOULD have been something else again to see, had McCain won, Palin and Pelosi going toe to toe! MEOW!

Mrs. B