Rearranging the Deck Chairs . . .

Two people are leaving the Random Non-profit this week to go on to other jobs. I took one of them out to lunch today just to give him a proper goodbye – he had been rather fun to work with and I am very sad to see him go . . .

When I came back from lunch, my boss’s boss came into my office and said that she was resigning to start her own consulting firm. I’m way happy for her and I think it will be a great fit – she’s worked her for 9 years and wants some new challenges. It’s also a good time to leave before the new CEO gets on board, especially if you don’t feel like going through yet another transitional period . . .

However, I am now wary of anyone who walks into my office and shuts the door. She was the 4th person in 3 months to come in and tell me they were leaving. I just assume now that if someone comes in and closes the door, the next words out of their mouth will be “I just wanted to let you know before it gets out – I’m leaving to . . .”

Today was a bit of a discouraging day for the above reasons and one more. My new boss and I are committed to improving our organization’s relationship with our grassroots. However, they have been neglected for so long that they are no longer paying attention to what we want to do. They have complained for a number of years that we have not been meeting their needs, and no one seemed to be acting on their requests in a timely manner. Now that we finally have the resources and the drive to do what they want us to do, they don’t want to hear it. I understand how they feel – they have been burned before – but I do wish they would give us a chance to improve things . . . some of them do know me and know that I do follow through on what I say I will do. Now I just have to try to do that for the whole field, and somehow let them know that we DO care and we WILL help them . . . I must not take all of this personally . . .

Thanks on the comments on yesterday’s post. I will try to work on Mr. Random to get him to take some time off . . . we both really need it, and him most of all. I am going to NYC to visit a friend of mine next weekend – maybe having the condo to himself for a few days will allow him some breathing space . . .

Any recommendations on what I should see in NYC? I’m already going to Times Square, and hope to spend a day in SoHo. I will be there from next Friday night to Sunday afternoon – is there anything else I should try to get to in such a short time period?