Don’t Forget the Little Guy
As I wrote this, the U.S. House was in the throes of a first-in-a-century series of ballots to name the next Speaker.
Regardless of how it ended up, there’s a lesson to be learned here, and not just for folks in politics: Never take anyone for granted.
The short of how we got here regarding the Speaker’s fight is that Kevin McCarthy presumed he’d have a large enough majority that he could afford to alienate upwards of 20 people. And he could have—had Republicans lived up to the lofty pre-election predictions of having 240 or 250 seats in the House.
Instead, it’s only 222…and that was far too small a majority for McCarthy to simply absorb. He took many members for granted, and paid for it.
Same thing for the workplace. How many employees are treated as dispensable? Granted, none of us is immune from being replaced…and even in this tight workforce, employees should not hold employers hostage.
But there’s a middle ground of communication, understanding, and respect that can go a very long way in both personal and professional relationships.
It’s clear that McCarthy misread the situation regarding his own membership. How many of us are doing the same thing, without the spectacle of a public vote and the watchful eyes of TV cameras?
Easy to simply point at McCarthy for being arrogant and self-centered…both of which are probably true. Not as easy to look in the mirror and see the same thing.
