I am, much to the surprise of many who know me only casually, very much an introvert. No, really. I have glib “stage presence,” and don’t shrink from public speaking (or bellowing), but I am profoundly introverted when it comes to more “risky” interactions (i.e., ones in which I might either offend or come off looking like an idiot, regardless of the probability).
So, a few days ago, when one of our IT managers sent out a note to the Global IT group (all 600-odd of us) soliciting opinions about how to deal logistically with hardware keys for software, I considered, then sent back a note to him alone, weighing in on the subject, offering some suggestions, etc.
After all, you never do a Reply All to a big global group. Certainly not intentionally.
More the fool I. Folks saw this as the perfect opportunity to get some global visibility. Over the course of a couple of days, a good dozen people sent a note to every IT person in the company, passing on their concerns, ideas, hopes, kvetches, etc., on the topic. As the rhetoric got more heated (and as I considered that every one of those messages was also going to top IT management), I just shook my head. Not because the suits aren’t open to new ideas, but because they don’t like to have lots of chatter in their in-boxes.
It was all topped off by someone — call him Bob — waxing lyrical about their pet ideas for global supply management, conveying not only an amazing degree of hubris in the brilliance of their insights, but a profound ignorance of what exactly the corporation already does regarding global supply management.
At which point, one of the veeps stepped in, declared the message thread formally closed, and pointed out in not-so-gentle terms just what knowledge the last sender was missing on the subject.
Ouch.
So, sometimes it’s good to be introverted. Or, at least, polite.