kisses from Heaven

Work Tales - Unbelievable – Leonardo is the only boss that I have so far that always informs me at the very last minute about going on leave. What the…and Leonardo practically and literally just abandon me like that when Leonardo knows very well that I am going to do the planograming for my department this week. I told Leonardo about my plans since last week. And Leonardo couldn’t be bother or the very least to act decently by informing me about it last week. I am not asking Leonardo to be like me; getting my hands & knees dirty and doing the adjusting, moving & shifting of the stocks…but the very least that Leonardo could do was to be physically there to give me some moral support. Leonardo just let me swim in the deep end of the ocean. Some more, Leonardo is totally crazy, expecting me to finish everything in one day’s time. This is a major construction project. I feel like a stepchild at times. It’s like I will never get that kind of love & sense of belonging from Leonardo. That was reserves for Jonas. Leonardo only inspected the site on the first day after returning from holidays, that’s it. After that, no more. It was so different from all of my previous Bosses who like to be updated and visit as frequently as possible. Strange, Leonardo just doesn’t seem to share the same enthusiasm as I do. And then, there are issues that I think that Leonardo should be worried about, Leonardo is not worried and act casual. Issues that Leonardo should not be concern about, Leonardo worried like nobody business. Damn!

Nonetheless, Thank You GOD, Praise To The LORD, Bless You GOD – I would not say that it is a perfect and fantastic set of planogram, but I would say that this is the first step, there will be some fine-tuning along the way. This is a work in progress. It will take time for me to instill my kind of philosophy into the department and build exactly what I need for the long term so that we can build both quality and depth. I’m grateful, humbled, relieved and still very driven & focused to make a big difference. Overall, I also feel the sense of achievement, pride and victory :)

I also missed both of my William & Henry. Last time, we used to do this together. Now, I am all alone. But I thank GOD because I can feel His presence, He is holding my hand and walking beside me every single day. Thank GOD, for all of the suppliers and my store people who have helped me a lot too. The message here is to keep the faith. I hope as time goes on there is progress and improvement.

I am only worried that the suppliers will inform Jonas of my current up-to-dates. I figure out that there are certain suppliers who like to ask me certain questions, as to see what will my answers be and inform back to Jonas; it’s like to see whether I bitch about Jonas or not. Sigh. I have nothing bad to say about Jonas, only the good stuffs & the compliments. There is no right or wrong here. What have happens, as a matter of fact, already happens. It’s the past. I have inherited it and I have to bring it forward. Why Jonas is being so cautions here? There is no such thing as a perfect handover or a job being done well. For sure, there will be minor shits here and there. I respect Jonas’s decisions & wisdoms at the point of making them, only time will tell whether it was right or wrong. Jonas is a mature adult – age wise. Jonas was doing Stationery for 8 solid years – that must carry some weight somehow. I am here to bring something different. I don’t have the pretension of saying that I will replace Jonas because I have every respect for Jonas as Jonas had an enormous season last year. I wish Jonas good luck for the future with the French but I need to bring what I can bring without being pretentious to say that I am here to replace Jonas. That would be very bad. I feel ready. Absolutely ready to assume the responsibilities and make people say “Yes, we have J___ here”. That’s how it is. Now I have the chance as Jonas has left and I have to take it. So I will get more exposure to be better and I need to assume the task. In fact, I must. The ball is in my court and the show must go on. I can’t get too frustrated about that because Jonas was good. I have to respect that. I just have to bide my time. My mentality is to do well as I can.

I also have limited myself, publicly at least, to diagnosing the department’s shortcomings and hinting at possible solutions. I am going for the Divide & Rule, Consolidation and Capitalizing strategies. I don't want to make promises and then fail to meet them. Excellent results, it will not happen overnight. It will not be easy, it will not be perfect, but there is a clear vision at work here. There will be short-term setbacks from time to time, but I believe if I have GOD, the suppliers, the store people, the Top Management & my fellow Colleagues; all the right people in place – it will surely bring more glory to the department. It's something you continually work on all the time.