I am in a quandary. The landscaper I hired recently did what I will generously term a mediocre job. And technically, he isn’t finished; one of the bushes I ordered has not been delivered. He promised to follow through, but that was two weeks ago and I am frustrated. The bill, by the way, has been paid in full.
I hate holding people accountable in situations like this.
In The Corporate Coach by James B. Miller, a book on my shelf that is left over from a long-abandoned career in sales management, James Miller discusses the role of “the twitch in your elbow” while interviewing job applicants. Gut instinct, we might say. And a big part of that, he says, is the commitment the applicant shows toward other activities. If he’s a scratch golfer, he didn’t get there just with 18 holes on Saturday. Maybe he’ll cut out of work early some days. If he’s out on his boat every weekend, who’s to say he won’t miss a few Monday mornings?
Commitment is a character trait not everyone has. It is to be admired.
