The Great Deception of the Lazy

I went to one of Ed Benyas's Summer Concerts a few weeks ago.  There was an intermission, and I was standing in the lobby, talking to a friend and another guy who I didn't know.  A former SIU Administrator (hereafter referred to as TA) walked up.  TA has a special place in my heart, because I wrote in this blog that he should be fired, 6 or 8 years ago.  TA greeted the other two people, and gave me a cold shoulder.  OK, fair enough, I did write that TA was worthless and should be fired.

At that moment, I again realized the great deception of TA.  TA is lazy, didn't love the work, was a bad manager, who sat on top of a large and worthless organization at SIU.  TA doesn't like me, because I wrote about it.  What TA is deceiving itself about is some idea that everyone didn't know that they were doing a terrible job.  Let me tell you, if you suck at your job, everyone around you knows.  Just because they are polite or worried about politics, doesn't mean they are stupid.  Even worse, by being a bad manager TA dragged down the performance of the 50+ people that worked for that group.

When I was writing my lists of Worst Administrators of the Year, and Best Administrators of the Year back then, I wasn't hearing from my readers, friends or family, I was wrong.  I heard I was right, about other people I should call out for doing a good or bad job.  When I came out against Sheila Simon's run for mayor of Carbondale, I received dozens (if not 100's) of replies, suggestions and complaints.  But, TA?  The people who worked for TA wrote me messages congratulating me on my good choice.

If you want to make SIU better, you would need a system where there is management, and consequences for not working.

Of course, your comments are welcome.