Respect the team

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JC’s origin story is just as dreary as you would expect: A smalltown boy who trained in a small firm in a small town on a small island in a small country in the middle of a big nowhere.

In any case, a few days into that first job, JC was assigned to work for one of the firm’s senior partners: an insurance and employment law specialist. As senior commercial lawyers in New Zealand tend to be, he presented as a rather introverted, sombre fellow.

This ostensible mood turned out largely to reflect how little he wanted to work with JC — you can imagine what an aggravating smartarse JC was back then, given how much of one he is now — and the feeling was fairly mutual.

He sat JC down in his office and said:

“Okay, here’s how it will be. Neither of us chose this, but we are now a team. We will therefore have each others’ backs. However much you fuck up, I will never criticise you in public. If you fuck up, it is on me, because I am the boss. Likewise, if I fuck up, you will never criticise me in public, because I am the boss.

But in this room, we will be entirely candid with each other, all the time. Are we agreed?”

We were agreed. We remain agreed. Best guy JC ever worked for.

See also

• Maxims for a happy life