Leadership in Action: Dividends and Interest - Language, Leadership, and the Old Tomato

Greater Expectations

I do, however, expect more from leaders than I do from my neighbor. I will never forget a meeting I attended in my first job out of college. I worked in the quality control lab of a chemical manufacturing company, and I was required to attend staff meetings every Wednesday morning. During one of these meetings a manager stood up and gave an impassioned speech about giving some recalcitrant union employees an “old tomato.” For weeks I didn't understand what he was talking about. Why the heck would he want to give anyone an old tomato? Then one day on my drive to work I realized that what the manager had meant to say was “ultimatum.”

I laughed so hard that I almost wrecked my car. This manager had a lot of experience and many ...