The Power Playbook’s Rose Herceg reports from whichever city she finds herself in about the stories she sees in boardrooms, business lunches and dinners across Australia (and sometimes the world).
Time: 4pm Monday
Place: Adelaide, online start-up
The scene: Business partners (a man and a woman) sitting in a room dividing up their to-do lists. The man has been coasting (and freeloading) for some time now and the woman has been carrying him to avoid any uncomfortable tension. She wants to avoid the perception of aggression (she’s pissed) so she says nothing and simply lets him get away with it. He pretends to ask how he can help and she lets him off the hook every time.
Power play do-over? (If this woman could turn back the clock and have that moment all over again)
“When you ask me how you can help you make me play the bad guy by delegating the list. You’re not a child who needs direction. You know as well as I do what needs to be done. Volunteer yourself to do the jobs that we need to knock over and stop acting like you’re doing me a favour. This business is as much your responsibility as it is mine and being involved doesn’t come with an embossed invitation. You either want to be a partner or you don’t. Decide if you are in or out and let me know”
Assertive. Calm and exactly what needs to be said to any freeloader who gets away with it by pretending to offer help…
Next week we listen in on an ugly fight…