Invisible talent
Pulitzer Prize winner and US Assistant Attorney General, Roger Wilkins, was interviewed by David Hoffman in 1989. He stated that the effect of segregation on his community was that individuals often associated themselves with the “Invisible Man.”
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Chapter 11
Hanged on a comma
Twelve months before he left his position Godfrey was chosen to attend a course involving GDPR regulations, as it was deemed necessary for the firm to have an expert in the area. This was in effect a master’s level qualification and required the student, apart from some part-time commitment, to concentrate on his studies for two months full-time. This suited everyone involved as the Board knew that Godfrey was the only one with the aptitude or interest to pursue the course and the Army Council would not miss his presence around the board table (real or virtual). Events were to prove that the board made a poor investment on this occasion as Godfrey would not be around to advise them for very long after his graduation.
The two months of full-time study allowed Bloom the luxury of contemplation of his career and position. He interacted with a new set of like-minded contacts and found the lectures and conversations stimulating. During his interactions he got a glimpse into how other organisations operated and this reinforced the sense of a poor culture existing at his own workplace especially the boardroom. It was with no great enthusiasm that he returned to the firm even if he did so with a newly acquired qualification.?
His return marked his final days with the manufacturing company and the irony surrounding the row that precipitated his departure was not lost on him. The Master’s degree (1st Class Honours) did not prevent the HR Executive from accusing Bloom of changing the wording of an official document three months previously. In fact, the newly acquired qualification in all things to do with General Data Protection Regulations was probably the catalyst that provoked the action. It’s likely that his accuser was convinced that Bloom had in fact changed a single word in a document thereby, according to the “prosecution,” changing its meaning. Bloom knew instinctively that the attitude of Jenkins was one of “what better way to bring the Executive Director down a peg than to accuse him at a Board meeting of not being compliant with the very subject he had been awarded a degree in?”
The HR Manager’s psychopathic tendencies blinded him to the necessity of investigating the matter thoroughly and his willing accomplices including the CEO and the useful idiots were easliy persuaded that a detailed examination of the facts were not required. He spent all his time and energy convincing the other members of the Army Council of their colleague’s guilt while Bloom was distracted by his studies. When the cat was away the mice certainly played on this occasion.
And so it came to pass that on his return to the fold; in “AOB,” the newly conferred Bloom was accused by the CEO of having deliberately changed the wording of a document two months previously to improve the pay and conditions of the newly promoted area manager without consulting the board.?The CEO was joined in his condemnation by Jenkins and others and Bloom was left speechless as he had no idea as to what anyone was talking about.
Godfrey Bloom was certain of one thing: he had not deliberately changed the wording of any document and what his fellow officers on the board were suggesting was damaging to his good name. At the next monthly meeting Bloom advised his accusers of the seriousness of their allegations and indicated that they should be withdrawn. If he thought that common sense would prevail; he was sadly mistaken as the accusations were repeated with even more vigour. Bloom felt he had no choice but to have the matter investigated by the government’s corporate enforcement arm. Because he was the one accused, he immediately and willingly took a month’s paid leave until the matter could be fully investigated. The accusations were in two sets of minutes which along with other documents had to be accessible to the agency.
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Matters such as these sometimes entail months of investigation but in Bloom’s case the conclusions were swift. In short, a word had been omitted from the original draft as agreed. This change did not alter in any way the meaning of the document, but the most intriguing conclusion was that Bloom had not caused the document to be changed; this was done in error by the Secretary whose duty it was to forward the publication to the printers so that a hard copy could be signed by all involved.
Legal action initiated by Bloom was settled very quickly and he received adequate compensation for the false accusations along with a generous severance package as he had no appetite to return. The Secretary retired within twelve months and subsequently the shareholders especially the family with a majority shareholding took more interest in the selection process for board directors; a fact that precipitated more changes including a new HR Executive and CEO, both recruited from outside the firm.
The ultimate irony was that Godfrey’s consultancy business was engaged to act on behalf of the firm in matters concerning GDPR and this expanded to other areas including recruitment. What he couldn’t accomplish as a director; he changed utterly as a consultant.???
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'The Director' is is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the authorGET IN TOUCH
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’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual?events is purely coincidental.