Barney Frank & Moving On
A couple of weeks ago, Barney Frank announced that he would not run for re-election. I'm not in his district. So, I've never had to decide whether or not to vote for him and I really don't know if his constituents are happy with him, but I really related to him when he made this comment.
“I will miss this job and will have tinges of regret. ... But one of the advantages of not
running for office is that I don’t have to pretend to be nice to people I don’t like.”
My cell phone rang today while I was on one of my morning coaching calls. It was a local photographer that I've seen around, treated politely, but never appreciated or referred. I sent him to voice mail. I ran an errand. While driving I listened to the message. "Hi Rick. ____ _____. Can you give me a call?" The only time that he's ever called me is when he wants an introduction, or information or free advice. So, it was natural for me to think, "He wants something." and I deleted the message.
For some reason, I used caller ID to call him back as I was driving home. He did some small talk, then said, "I'm calling to be the bad guy. Kurlan owns the license for your profile picture." I told him that I'd take it down and hung up. I was immediately upset that I'd returned his call. I changed my profile picture. Unfriended him on Facebook and disconnected on LinkedIn.
......and that, readers, is why Barney Frank is my new hero.
I wonder what would happen if we were all like Barney?
Reply to this
You know... I didn't think of this when I wrote the post, but isn't pretending to like somebody lying? It's not true. It's deceptive. If everyone stopped pretending, maybe everyone could stop pretending.
Reply to this