Ramble Ramble

Today was a day where I confirmed, yet again, what I’m best at (in the working world): Crisis Management. Not creative, not marketing, not managing, not outside-the-box thinking (or for that matter inside-the-box thinking). It’s not that I’m bad at those things, on the contrary I am good at those.

But I’m GREAT at crisis management.

Don’t get me wrong, it makes my blood pressure go up, and I start doing things very fast and staccato–walking, typing, calling, etc. I become a little self-contained whirling dervish. But I’m efficient, calm (on the outside), and firm about fixing problems. There is no shy shrinking flower when I’m dealing with a crisis, no discomfort in talking to people I don’t know, no fear in being the bad guy. There is only getting it fixed.

And honestly, I love it.

I kind of wish I could have that all the time.

Well, sort of. I’m quick to acknowledge that I would, most likely, burn out very very quickly if it were really all crises all the time. And let’s be realistic, a crisis in the marketing world is not the same as a crisis in health care, or other fields that affect individuals. If today’s crisis hadn’t been fixed, the most that would have happened is we had a pissed off author. We might have lost some budgetary dollars fixing it. MAYBE we would have had to cancel the book if the author was pissed enough. So I’m aware that there are varying levels of the word Crisis.

But, the feeling of being efficient, of being the person who knows how to fix something and who does, of being the calm in the middle of the storm–THAT I like. THAT I wish I could be a part of more often. THAT makes me go, damn, I’m the absolute right person in this job.

Today at work was…well, we’ll call it hectic…sure.

Let’s recap the morning shall we?

8:30 am read email
8:31 am see email that shows a serious mistake of the highest order
8:32 am realize that boss is out at funeral and so must shoulder mistake on my own—plus try to fix.
8:33 am realize I’m royally f*^ed
8:40 am get email about database problem
8:41 am realize boss is out at a funeral and so must figure out on my own
8:42 am realize I’m so not an IT person and so potentially royally f*&ed
8:43-9:02 am work frantically at both problems
9:03 am get called to an impromptu meeting where at
9:04 am introduced to new head honcho (um, didn’t know we were hiring someone for that role yet?)
9:05 am realize I need to have a “onboarding” plan done for new head honcho
9:06 am realize boss is at a funeral so must figure out what “onboarding” plan looks like on my own
9:07-9:43 am work on these three things
9:45 am get email about a reporting error that potentially screws some of our distributors
9:46 am realize that boss is out at funeral and so must figure out on my own—plus try to fix.
9:47 am realize I’m royally f*^ed
9:48-10:36 am  work on these 4 things
10:37 am get email about an digital error…
10:38 am-5:00 pm rinse & repeat

Ah hell, I don’t even want to keep recapping. I’m about to run out and play in traffic….