O O Ø O O O O
Post Partum Shrug
Where has all the anger gone?
Judging from my last post, you might think I’m scraping the bottom of my barrel o’ rage. I thought it might then be wise to break off a piece today. Enjoy.
I learned unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago that the company for which I used to work, ENMAX Corporation, had just fired a very well respected compatriot of mine. Truthfully, this termination had been brewing for several years—one of those continuing differences of philosophy. I’m not angry or disappointed for my friend, since he will easily land himself in a better position. Rather, I’m bitterly disappointed at what this means for the utility he leaves behind.
I have a convoluted history at ENMAX. I was first a short term consultant, whose contract was eventually extended to over a year. Then I became a full employee, a term which lasted only nine months, after which it was back to consulting for a final year. A strange, trying and wonderful journey that wouldn’t have happened had it not been for my now-departed colleague. (The remainder of this rant is going to be problematic if I don’t use any proper names, but since I want to be mindful of ENMAX’s privacy, I will substitute a pseudonym. From here forward I will refer to my esteemed contemporary as Prometheus.)
Without several early, lengthy conversations with Prometheus, I would never have joined ENMAX as a full time bitch, er, employee. What made the difference? Simply, I could understand that Prometheus was: fair-minded, principled, open to input, and practical. He was a man for whom I could comfortably and confidently work, knowing if we shared the same outlook and desired outcomes he would back my decisions. Prometheus could be universally counted upon for support.
Remarkably, I never worked in his department, but I carried his torch wherever I worked in the corporation, because I knew he stood for the most important principle: reason.
Prometheus was not the only employee at ENMAX dedicated to the reasoned pursuit of rational outcomes. He had an entire cast of dedicated staff who went to the wall—and well beyond—on his behalf. To an individual, these co-workers were followers of Prometheus’ philosophy of real solutions according to concrete principles.
Unless your name is John Galt, good luck.
So now that he’s gone, I say to his replacement, “Unless your name is John Galt, good luck engendering that sort of loyalty and dedication.”
So. Prometheus is well and away, lighting his torch for someone else. His followers are now free of the largest remaining reason to stay in their current positions. This just sounds like another typical rats-leaving-sinking-ship scenario, doesn’t it?
So what’s got my pantyhose in a knot? Look at what this means for ENMAX: a man spends several years in a pitched battled to defend his principles of reason. When his corporate adversaries finally sack him, it sends a clear message. The corporation stands for principles of un-reason. By any standard, Prometheus received exemplary performance from his staff. Empirically, his goals were intelligent, substantial, achievable and approved. So his removal from the company can only come as a result of irrational and subjective theatrics.
This type of politik horseshit is ruining an electric utility that has to be governed by sober reason.
Unfortunately, ENMAX is rife with this sort of politik. This comes as no surprise to any of us that have worked in organizations larger than—say—two people. But what is so freaking irritating, and so unjustifiably wrong, is that this type of politik horseshit is ruining an electric utility that has to be governed by sober reason. The delirious followers of mystical unreason that are running ENMAX have fired the one man among them who could have hauled their asses back to reality.
I would never knock the goals of Alberta’s electric system deregulation. (Although I reserve comment on some of the details.) But the resulting problem at ENMAX has been the shifting emphasis toward the marketing drones, and away from the thing they do best: delivering electrons.
This does not mean I believe ENMAX was greatest when they were The City Of Calgary Electric System. ENMAX will be greatest when they fully separate their operations into appropriate working categories: physical things people care about (poles, substations, bucket trucks, flowing electrons), and ephemeral fluff (press releases, marketing promos, glad-handing). The physical things company, which will hopefully assume a mature, low key name like Calgary Electric Plant & Maintenance Inc.—a name so dull no marketer would touch it with a ten foot cell phone antennae—can then go about its sensible business without distraction from the do-lunch crowd.
And maybe, just maybe, if they get down on both knees and cross his palm with gold, they can entice Prometheus to return and be their I.T. Director.
Evan Spence
Tuesday, December 24,
2001
PD DXXVII