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: {{quote|“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?”

Best guy JC ever worked for.

See also

• Maxims for a happy life