More Motivational Crap at work

[dnw]

Today's mote of wisdom is credited to John Holcomb, who states:

"You must choose a side to make a difference. No one is impressed by the win/loss record of the referee."If you don't think about it, it sounds great. But if you do stop and analyze this statement, it rapidly becomes nonsense

Comments

[character_notes]

Yeah it sounds pretty awful and stupid. The key here is that no one is IMPRESSED by it, which makes this saying not nonsense but instead assholish.

If you do good work, are polite, and as you say can be diplomatic, you do make a difference, but this quote implies that no one cares about that. You could argue that people who are religious extremists who regard all other religions or non-believers of their specific set of beliefs have picked a pretty clear "side". The more moderate people don't often get in the news. Same with any belief. Many times, these people do more harm than good, in spite of their interests. But since people don't notice, maybe people who try and be good by seeing all sides don't matter? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, etc etc.

I'm not explaining myself quite right, but the more I think about it, the more it upsets me.

[dnw]

What you've said makes sense to me. There isn't much glory or recognition in being a mediator. Very few Hollywood blockbusters revolve around the actions of someone trying to negotiate a settlement between the 'Hero' and the 'Villain'.