My company begins planning its integration into a new parent organization.
As a participant in that process I have to obey:
- Laws and policies.
- My duty as an executive to create strategic value.
- My duty as a manager to treat my team humanely and fairly.
I feel other ties:
- Guiding my actions according to ethical values and agile principles.
- Loyalty to my boss — he’s created opportunities for me. I owe him.
- Loyalty to my departing CEO — she is a visionary and a mentor. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
These obligations may contend but should not fundamentally conflict as long as the integration plan we develop clearly communicates an achievable, rational outcome.
“Above all, to thine own self be true.” — Hamlet, I, iii
Inspiring and daunting advice but not to be taken at face value. For the character who delivers it has too high a regard for his own ingenuity, places himself at the center of events and meets a bad end. A creation as complex as life.
I will try to heed a fool’s words without becoming a fool. To be true to mine own self in this circumstance is not to delude myself that this situation is in any significant way about me. Options that don’t make business sense will not serve the long-term interest of anyone involved. My obligation is to work towards the best outcome for all parties given that reality.