Dan, Hyper-Active Man, has trouble with others

[Notes From The Cube: This goes back a couple of days, to "Dan, the Hyper-Active Man"]

Well, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out that our boss Dan, the Hyper-Active Man, is not everyone's best friend.

One might go so far as to suggest that Dan's friends are few and far between.

Which is a pity, really, because he's essentially a nice guy under the hyped-up energy level. He actually listens and will change his position if you offer a reasonable or better alternative, although you've got to shout a bit and hold your ground to keep from being steamrolled over. And he is definitely a pushover when it comes to discipline. There are at least 2 goofoffs in the department who should be gone - but Dan won't be the one to fire them: he's got such a soft heart that he keeps remembering that they have families who shouldn't suffer for their loved one's incompetence.

But, y'know, intellectual honest and integrity and a deeper-than-business sense of morality don't cut it with the masses. Most of the fellow Cubes hate Dan because they instinctively fear any one in authority, so they hear his bark and feel his bite - even when there isn't any. As for the goofoffs: oh, Dan barks at them a lot, but instead of upping their performance levels or at least feeling grateful that he's not canning them like tomatoes for the winter, they just feel resentful and mutter among the minions about how they are "picked on," drawing sympathy from the colleagues who do not suffer from their crappy work performance.

One of Dan's biggest problems is that the Company brought him in to "straighten up" the department - but gave him guidelines that he would not necessarily have drawn. Dan has straightened up the department: our accountability is high, our productivity growing - but the guidelines haven't changed, and now, a couple of years later, people are chaffing at the restrictions and perceived "lack of trust." It's not so perceived: because Dan's "mission" from above forced him to review everyone's work with a skeptical eye, he developed a cynicism (bordering on paranoia) about what people say versus what they do. Not a pretty situation. But one that would exist with or without Dan: everyone forgets that his predecessor had all the subtlety of a hammer and lasted only about a year with his "my way or else" attitude that dragged things to a standstill. For all his barking, cajoling, pushing, Dan is still trying to persuade, not beat down.

But it doesn't feel like that - because of Dan's second problem: he's waaay too smart for most of us.

We go into a group meeting, an idea is suggested, and Dan is already thinking two or three steps ahead of the herd, accepting or dismissing the implications of the original suggestions before most of us have been able to wrap our tiny brains around the original concept. He does this to himself, too, sometimes in in harsh tones that include the phrase "Dan, you idiot, no!" - but people are pretty much self-absorbed, and instead of getting into his groove and understanding the process, they withdraw and whimper, licking their misread ego-hurt wounds.

The Cube has a simple rule: Work at Dan's performance level, play straight with him, do the job right. Consequently, The Cube doesn't have any problems with Dan. Arguments, yes - that goes with the territory when working with Dan: he sometimes even brings people into his office to argue out an idea he has beating inside his eardrums. But those are creative arguments. And with the creativity goes a sense of humor that make staying late a lot of fun sometimes.

But The Cube does not see a happy outcome here in Never-Never Land. Too too many colleague Cubes would rather drone on than be creative. Maybe they're even right: most of any business is routine, someone has to walk around and around the millwheel.

Dunno. We'll see . . .