The Relentlessness Trials

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Sir? I just entirely disagree with your assertion.  

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My job sir?  Are you implying you will terminate my employment simply because I don’t share your ridiculously ill thought suggestion?  Those numbers, sir, that you and Mr. [redacted] propose are entirely unattainable.

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Sir? Because Mr.[redacted] says we must attain those numbers?  But we can’t, sir.  Under no viable scenario is that possible. It cannot be done. No data, thus far, suggest that is remotely possible.

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No sir, I am not sand bagging my numbers to tip the scales as you say to be blindly obstinate. I take issue with the suggestion they are ‘my’ numbers, sir.  The numbers are just numbers. Regardless, I have attempted to explain the numbers multiple times, but you keep cutting me off, sir.  I know not if you cut me off because you do not understand the numbers and are frustrated as such or if you understand the numbers but don’t like the results implied by them and therefore frustrated accordingly.

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I do assure you that I understand your position quite clearly. Let me restate to validate.  Mr.[redacted] contends, sir, that if we do not hit the numbers you and he desire, we will go out of business?  You say that this is what keeps you up at night? Not hitting these absurd and unattainable numbers keeps you up at night because you fear we will go out of business? 

With all due respect sir, none of the scenarios we have tested in our models remotely suggest that we would go out of business, sir. You should not be losing sleep over such thoughts, sir, if that is your concern.  We have run these scenarios through our models multiple times using multiple approaches. Rechecking our assumptions and calculations as we go. Perpetually attempting to prove it is actually not true that we cannot hit these numbers. An odd phrasing to be sure, but based on the the logical philosophical hypothesis testing methodology we employ. Methodology we use so that we may hope to reduce our inherent bias.  Bias that seems reasonably at play in the very moment as we so badly wish we could attain these numbers. Bias that clearly is foundational, front and center, to our mutual disagreement at present. Doing so… 

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…would feel so much better than not hitting those numbers. Be that as it may, while there are some scenarios that do demonstrate that we will undergo certain financial hardships, by not hitting those numbers, they do not suggest an irreparable decline into financial insolvency.  And to underscore, those negative scenarios are few.  

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In actuality most of the results of the models suggest we continue our longstanding profitability, despite missing Mr. [redacted} and your numbers.  We just do so at a reduced rate. 

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If anything, the results suggest that the probability of financial insolvency exponentially increases were we to insist on pretending it were possible to attain the numbers you and Mr. [redacted] propose.  The data is overwhelmingly consistent on this account.  

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The data suggests we will introduce a cascading swell of compromised decision making in what may pose a precipitous decline in our market position while attempt to shore up the impacts from the position you and Mr. [redacted].

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Sir, I hear that you disagree with the modeled results.  

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However you have not provided any reasonable argument for your position.  

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With all due respect, sir, your response seems…

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…to be mostly an emotional regret that you wish we could achieve such numbers.  While I concur it would be fantastic to see such results, they are, nonetheless, not attainable. 

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Not attainable.

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Again, sir, you making an assertion, a bold assertion might I add…

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…without an argument that supports that assertion. Your tone, to be frank, suggests you are emotionally distraught over a position you have adopted that is based neither on logic or reason so much as pure desire.  

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For certain I cannot ascertain that you have based your decision on any data that contradicts our other well tested data.

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Sir, the results Mr. [redacted] achieved several years ago were under entirely different circumstances.  This decision is not like that decision at all. 

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The data sets are independent from each other. And his decisions several years ago, objectively speaking, were not due to insisting…

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…the impossible being done and then doing just that- the impossible.

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No, regardless of his feelings that he pulled off the impossible, he, in actuality, made a decision to do something that was entirely possible. 

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Entirely possible. And it was further possible because it was simply a matter of right time, right circumstances and, yes to be fair, a bit of amazing luck of all these proverbial stars aligned together seemingly for his benefit. As such, he then found himself at the stern of a massively successful powerful ship.  

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Kudos to him. He made the right call at that time. And all credit to him for those calls as he had to take tremendous risks. He could have lost it all. But this situation is not analogous to that situation.

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Very different situation, this one is. In this instance he is asking for the statistically impossible based on the data available to us. 

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Sir,I...

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I..

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Not really applicable..

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So be it sir, fire me.  That is under your purview.  Replace me with someone, as you say, that is is more compliant with your desires.  But to be clear: There is no scenario in which you and Mr. [redacted] ever attain those numbers. At best you can reach 64% of those numbers, which is still extremely profitable. 

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My employment status is entirely independent and as such irrelevant to the variables that underscore why the proposed number is unattainable sir.  Unattainable. 

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It is the data that demonstrate and explain this, sir. I concur with the data. Simple as that. 

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So be it sir. 

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Just because a bully attempts to submit others through fear and intimidation…

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…and happens to succeed once in a while despite tremendous odds, it does not mean he is actually brilliant in all instances. This is such an instant. 

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 He is simply wrong and I would attest that he knows this and understands he is in way over his head. 

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That, however, is simply not my problem. 

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I have no desire to be in any way associated to that perspective.  Which is why I will not relent when I say “those numbers are not attainable.”  

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Employment consequences be damned, I will not relinquish my personal autonomy by adopting his, and yours, position.  

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I will not take the position you are demanding of me because I can logically support my position in exhaustive detail and you only defend the impossibility of your position through volatile emotionally based declarations that are neither here nor there.

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No offense, sir, just because you are enraged at me and act as such, it doesn’t mean that I am not also enraged. I am quietly enraged, though admittedly I am increasingly less so on the quiet part, because that is how adults manage their emotions. 

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I am enraged that I even have to repeatedly defend my decision as though it were not a reasonably logical position. 

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I am enraged that when challenged  that my positions is incorrect I am repeatedly impeded from explaining my position. 

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I am enraged that you cannot admit that your position is one of emotion that cannot be contradicted and that you parlay that emotion into baseless attacks on my credibility. 

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You are free to make other decisions. My position does not assert that you must align to my position. My position is the data says we know what results we can achieve and that the results you desire are not achievable.  

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You assert my position is not reasonable, with no evidence or coherent explanation, and then threaten me at multiple levels to change my opinion.  You have unquestionably demanded I restate my position so that it simply aligns to yours and threaten to attempt to malign my credibility should I refuse to do so.

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Yes sir, we do agree on that point. As such I also assert that you demand this of me so that when these desired numbers are not attained in actuality- which to be sure will be the result- it will also be highly possible for you and Mr. [redacted] to suggest to others that it was actually MY position that would be to blame. It would permit you to suggest that I, the expert on the numbers in question, implied that this was the direction we should go. 

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I  do not believe you.  My history of working within this organization highly suggests the contrary.

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Lastly, I assert that you would infer that I should be punished accordingly.

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Be that as it may.  Impugning my credibility via accusations that are purely illogical and only emotionally motivated, is neither here nor there. Regardless of my enragement that you attempt to subjugate me when I will not be subjugated.

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I will not be subjugated, coerced or threatened into making a poor decision upon which I will be targeted for blame when the consequences bear fruit…

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…and despite all of this I nonetheless continue to restrain myself from being overly emotional as being such impedes my ability to make solid reasoned decisions. In the end, to circle back to the original purpose of this discussion, it is the data that does not support your position. I am merely a conduit from which that data can be summarized for understanding. 

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Personalizing this discussion is merely a distraction.

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Sir, we are going in circles. I’ve said what I needed to say. I am an adult and know that violence and conflict never actually resolve issues so much as they distract. And violence always undermines the result you actually wish to achieve. This is a conversation I no longer wish to continue. 

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