Is this the prompt that would arise from “But So-and-so is going/doing it/ allowed to. Waaaa.” And the parent responding “If So-and-so was going to jump off a cliff, would you, too?”
Here’s the best I’ve got: Once upon a time almost 20 years ago, I was leaving my decades-long marriage and sought a job, pretty much any job that might pay a living wage. In June of the year my daughter, my last child, was graduating from high school, a friend got me an interview with the owner of a mom-and-pop international consulting, publishing, and leadership organization. And it was just down the road from me. I went for the interview. The office was a barn-like structure near the dwelling place of the husband-and-wife owners. After showing me around the barn offices, my friend showed me through the house. I remember thinking that four families could live in that house and never see each other. Wow. I had an interview with the husband-owner.
The company was founded on and marketed as a business of coaching big-time companies and non-profits to justify their expenses based on a formula that yielded the organization’s return on investments. It was either a solid foundation on which an organization could stand on current practices or a springboard to change policies and practices to improve the organization’s bottom line of profitability or of services delivered for the costs incurred. OR it was smoke and mirrors. I was glad to have work with an income that would let me move away from my marriage and begin a path to independence.
The job was exciting. I learned so much about booking venues all around the world, working with the company’s national and international partners, and shipping boxes of training materials to cities all around the world as well as editing books and articles and creating and managing three websites. As I’m looking back to those experiences, I am a bit awed at what I did and learned after having spent 25 years as a stay-at-home mama raising three children.
So, the “counsel of the wicked” part (and not sure this meets the prompt): The owners – the husband and wife – provided workshops all around the globe. The husband had developed this return on investment formula for these soft business elements – human resources, communications, training, and so forth. He was the star, the draw. I gradually came to see that workshops would be promoted as “a weeklong certification workshop led by Star Founder” and then at the last minute, Star Founder/Husband would veer off to another venue and program and Star-ish Wife would go to the advertised workshop. All well and good – she was an excellent teacher and workshop leader. I am not dissing her qualifications or abilities. I would just say to them: If Wife is going to do the workshop, say that. It’s unfair to the registrants and their organizations to promote “Star Founder” as workshop leader and then at the last-minute sub in Star-ish Wife.
Is that “counsel of the wicked?” It’s what I came up with.
— Marmar
Here’s the best I’ve got: Once upon a time almost 20 years ago, I was leaving my decades-long marriage and sought a job, pretty much any job that might pay a living wage. In June of the year my daughter, my last child, was graduating from high school, a friend got me an interview with the owner of a mom-and-pop international consulting, publishing, and leadership organization. And it was just down the road from me. I went for the interview. The office was a barn-like structure near the dwelling place of the husband-and-wife owners. After showing me around the barn offices, my friend showed me through the house. I remember thinking that four families could live in that house and never see each other. Wow. I had an interview with the husband-owner.
The company was founded on and marketed as a business of coaching big-time companies and non-profits to justify their expenses based on a formula that yielded the organization’s return on investments. It was either a solid foundation on which an organization could stand on current practices or a springboard to change policies and practices to improve the organization’s bottom line of profitability or of services delivered for the costs incurred. OR it was smoke and mirrors. I was glad to have work with an income that would let me move away from my marriage and begin a path to independence.
The job was exciting. I learned so much about booking venues all around the world, working with the company’s national and international partners, and shipping boxes of training materials to cities all around the world as well as editing books and articles and creating and managing three websites. As I’m looking back to those experiences, I am a bit awed at what I did and learned after having spent 25 years as a stay-at-home mama raising three children.
So, the “counsel of the wicked” part (and not sure this meets the prompt): The owners – the husband and wife – provided workshops all around the globe. The husband had developed this return on investment formula for these soft business elements – human resources, communications, training, and so forth. He was the star, the draw. I gradually came to see that workshops would be promoted as “a weeklong certification workshop led by Star Founder” and then at the last minute, Star Founder/Husband would veer off to another venue and program and Star-ish Wife would go to the advertised workshop. All well and good – she was an excellent teacher and workshop leader. I am not dissing her qualifications or abilities. I would just say to them: If Wife is going to do the workshop, say that. It’s unfair to the registrants and their organizations to promote “Star Founder” as workshop leader and then at the last-minute sub in Star-ish Wife.
Is that “counsel of the wicked?” It’s what I came up with.
— Marmar
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