Great question Melani. Well, Number 1.. it didn't happen the way you describe it. Q: So what do you do? I would have done what Rudy did in NY, DON"T PANIC!. The real reason everyone has been so enamored with Rudy is the way he handled a pressurized situation. He was thoughtful and was able to give himself time to assess the situation, get some good advise, and consider the possible
fallout. Lewis Wendell thought it was important to call the community service worker and apologize for something.as Lewis put it. "I had no knowledge of", and as it turns out, it was the truth. Lewis acted without Board consent and made a catastrophic decision to suspend John Fenton without any real evidence, just based on an allegation. After John spoke with Lewis about what happened, Lewis made a unilateral decision which now calls into question his management, public relations skills, and overall executive judgment, not unlike Brown at FEMA. To answer your question, I would have tried to remain level headed and based on what I know about John Fenton's reputation, I would have been armed with concrete evidence before I removed him from his post, if for no other reason.. self preservation. I would have issued a statement saying the UCD would follow-up on any formal complaints but at this time, because they are just allegations, the UCD is standing by their Director of Operations. Taking a position as I described would do a few things for me as Director: 1) Deflect criticism from the "loud-mouthed" community residents. 2) Allow time to pass and have the issue blow over as "air-cover" for UCD. 3) Protect the overall staff productivity and moral needed to continue with the organizations mission. So..that is what you do. S -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:58 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [UC] Press release or Wendell statement? In a message dated 6/15/07 8:26:52 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Generally the question is : "Why is Lewis Wendell more responsible? Well..the answer is if it was a Board decision to suspend John then I guess we would have all known about it from the meeting held by our community representatives on the UCD Board. Let's see: you're running an organization, Sharrieff, and one day you read in the paper that someone has accused one of your employees, a very popular one, of doing something improper. You have no advance notice; everybody else who reads the paper finds out at the same time you do, and they all start calling and second guessing and making conflicting demands. So you ask the employee, hey, what happened?, and you don't get any answer. Instead, his powerful friends start badmouthing YOU! What do you do? Melani Lamond ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
