I sent a particularly dumb email early in my career. Don’t get me wrong, you could probably catch me sending a dumb email in any given week… but this one was particularly dumb. Why? Because I was frustrated about not being included in a group recognition for something, and I let that frustration drive me to click Send. As we all know, you don’t click Send in anger. Especially when the To: line reads CEO.
I wasn’t surprised when my boss asked me to come by his office the next day. He had a classic I-am-not-happy-I’m-about-to-have-this-conversation look on his face. I probably reflected that look. There were some words. Frustration on his part, latent anger masking embarrassment on mine. But then, he took a deep breath and said something powerful:
“When you send an email like that to the CEO, not only does it make you look bad, it makes me look bad and undermines my credibility with the CEO… AND it makes the CEO feel like he screwed up. He didn’t. I did. I missed your name on the list when I put it together in the first place to send to him.”
Well that just hit me right in the feels. I was in the rare situation of actually valuing & liking my boss. And I thought the CEO was a good guy as well. Plus, I’d gotten upset in entirely the wrong direction. I hadn’t stopped to consider the consequences of my action and having them laid out so plainly left me nowhere to hide. It was so effective, I remember the conversation now, over a decade later.