Friday, September 08, 2006

You win some, you lose some

Today I discovered that a a critical piece of information that I have been putting out in the world on behalf of my clients - that I have given to them to use to promote their case, that has gone to elected officials and policymakers - was wrong. Quite wrong, thank you very much, due to a single error in a single cell of a 15-worksheet spreadsheet that I created. I had to send the correction out to my clients, and confess, and fall on my sword. I helpfully suggested ways they could mitigate the gaffe - like (a) massage the data a little bit so the correction doesn't look quite so extreme, and (b) FIRE ME - in an email that concluded with "Yours in humbly beating my head against my desk, Flora."

Today I also talked with a former client, and things there are going swimmingly. The CEO I helped them hire - whom I absolutely love - is a big success. The organization's reputation with its constituency is on a big upswing, and one of my pet ideas is turning out to be wildly popular. Since I have not always been the best judge of character in choosing potential CEOs, it is very good to know that my instincts were right this time around.

So, you know. You win some, you lose some. At least I didn't, like, authorize secret illegal CIA torture-prisons. It's all a matter of perspective.

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