Making Noise
A picture is worth a thousand words... and a few hundred calories when it makes you laugh.
Having just finished giving two presentations about "what your project team isn't telling you," I heard a lot of pain and fear about making noise to the executives. It seems a few people have witnessed messengers being shot. Ironically, I saw this sign in New York City this morning, and I just had to share it. I wonder who is enforcing it, because honking is a language in and of itself in a city that hears about every tongue imaginable spoken. Somehow I doubt that anybody has collected much money in honking penalties.
So... is your reluctance to speak up and "honk your horn" at work due to "obsolete" signs that should be ignored? As I told both the audiences, the really good executives will listen when the message is presented intelligently and with an orientation toward solutions. The times that any executive gets hyper is when she or he is blindsided with a problem that is dumped on his or her lap with no sign of a solution in sight. The bad executives will blow a gasket regardless of the message or the delivery.
Just something to think about as you are about to deliver bad news.