Hazia’s Reflections

Development since my last entry? Hmm… susah jugak jadi lady boss ni:)

Let’s stick to the same topic - ‘Antara 2′. Pizza hut has been playing hide and seek or ‘main tarik tali’ or whatever it is called. He acted nonchalant but everytime I asked, he insisted that he was interested. He even sounded hurt when I said I was re-considering, that the move may ruin his career.

Just now I bumped into him before a meeting with the Ministry. I invited him to join us, and my boss (IS) was all for it. Pizza hut also strategically positioned himself in front of IS and supported his jokes, etc. I watched them both quietly, I only spoke when information was needed. Yeah, I kept some arrangements away from IS, so, there were times when he simply had to shut up and let me do the talking because he didn’t know the answer.

As I observed how IS responded to him and how he charmed the man, I realised something. Hiring him would be a big mistake! There was no doubt that IS liked him a lot, but that was way too much for comfort. IS would use Pizza hut to strengthen his own positioning, for his own political agenda. He did that already with own ‘little group of supporters,’ but with a budding politician like Pizza hut -the guy could take him miles. That is too much hanky panky and I don’t want to be part of it.

I was hoping to catch up with Pizza hut after the meeting. Imagine my shock when I found out that he was rushing to town as IS had just invited him to lunch. Nothing fancy too, just a kedai kopi near his office. He claimed that they didn’t talk anything out of the norm, though at first he thought that I told IS that I was considering hiring him.

In the cab on the way back, Pizza hut called me. He was shocked and felt bad that he didn’t wait for me and offered me a lift. He wanted to know where I was and wanted to come and get me. Hmm… I didn’t expect a lift, I just wanted to talk to him about the vacancy and close ‘my account’. So, I declined.

I felt betrayed. Man, he is my friend, and yet he was socialising with the enemy. He could hang out with IS but he had no time to hang out with me. That was my slot that the ape took.

Anyway, I think God wanted to show me the way. Pizza hut wasn’t supposed to be in that international trade mission meeting. I nearly didn’t make it as IS planned to take my new staff only, obviously he wanted to take all the glam to himself. Man, why do people worry about me taking the limelight away from them? I thought I was low-profile enough. LOL! Unfortunately, or fortunately, my staff was on leave. IS claimed that he left a few things ‘hanging’. When I asked him what exactly were ‘those things,’ it was all the stuff that I was working on. IS had no choice to but to let me go. LOL!

Okay, to cut a long story short, Pizza hut and I ended up having a cup of coffee at Chawan after work just now. He picked me up from my office. Luckily, I had made up my mind a few days ago to hire Humble instead. So, my dialogue started punchily. Yes, I think it would be a good career move for him, but being in my department would limit his contribution. He can contribute more in another 2 departments, including 1 headed by my sworn enemy.

Again, to cut a long story short, we both agreed that I should hire the other candidate ie Humble. I learned that actually, he hadn’t thought about jumping ship. He wanted to go into business instead, he was already looking. He was simply half-tempted (by the extra money) and half-flattered (by how highly I regard him) with my proposition. Oh boy, I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he discover who the other candidate is, yeah, his own colleague:)

Oh, bad news, Pizza hut saw IS ‘approaching’ his female colleague when he was at their office - the one that he asked me to hire but I refused. I hope the ape won’t insist, otherwise, there’d be another battle between us and the vacancy would last for months as I stubbornly refused to do what he wanted.

He made one electrifying comment though. He said me being result-oriented meant that I was consultant-material, not management material (process-oriented). Okay, maybe I should start focusing more on processes, rather than attacking tasks in half the time at random order in my own way; and many times without proper prior approvals too (though I would re-track and cover later on). But I still believe that the best corporate leaders are those who focus on generating results without neglecting the processes.

That was a good insight, especially since he was frank, and he wasn’t afraid to speak up to me like others. We adjourned for Maghrib prayers at the mosque nearby before he sent me home.