I maintain an extensive mentoring and coaching practice which, among other salutary benefits, keeps me constantly calibrated with the warp and woof of organizational life. It also provides examples straight out of cloud-cuckoo-land.
This past week I counseled a woman who has a severe learning disability, but who is also a dedicated entrepreneur and coach herself. Her limitations are with the written word, and she must remain tightly organized or she loses track of details. Sometimes she will briefly and harmlessly repeat herself to help her own internal organization.
She volunteered for and was accepted by a California chapter of a major national human resource association—with full knowledge of her minor limitations—to be its program chair. This is the kind of assertive and bold approach she brings to all that she tries. She worked, apparently successfully, in this function for a couple of months.
Abruptly, the chapter president appointed a co-chair without my friend’s knowledge or approval, and in just a few weeks thereafter, asked her to resign in favor of that co-chair. The president’s reason: She could no longer tolerate my friend’s habits of losing details, repeating herself, and being unable to rapidly record things on paper. In other words—And who can make this up?—the president of a human resources organization was firing someone not for non-performance, but rather for the “annoying” effects of her disability! (“Hey, that wheelchair is always in the way, get rid of that guy!”)
I advised my friend to record this for all of the board members, and to leave it in their hands. The president asked her to write a letter of resignation simply stating that my friend chose voluntarily to leave, which she has wisely declined to so.
The kicker: When I asked out of curiosity what company the president worked for as a human resources director, my friend said, “Oh, she’s unemployed at the moment.” Surprise, surprise…

© Alan Weiss 2002 All rights reserved.

About the author:
Alan Weiss, Ph.D. is the author of 25 books published in 7 languages, including the best-selling Million Dollar Consulting.. His newest, The Million Dollar Consulting™ Toolkit, will be released this fall. His clients have included Mercedes-Benz, Hewlett-Packard, The Federal Reserve, Chase, and hundreds of other global organizations. For hundreds of free articles to download, visit http://www.summitconsulting.com, where you’ll also find information about his workshops and public appearances.