Generally, whenever I finished delivering my Declaration of Interdependence Positive Interaction presentation at major corporations in the U.S. and my Canadian version in various Canadian locations the entire audience would come forward and sign a personal commitment. Once in a while I would notice someone hanging back and it was obvious to me that they had a problem with the signing of the commitment. I was reviewing some old tapes of talks and found one of a presentation I did in Nova Scotia and I recalled how I checked with one such fellow and he made me swear not to repeat our conversation. At first he asked me if I would sign his name for him. I didn’t understand the request but when I asked a few more questions I learned that he had been brought in from a rather remote spot and this was the first such meeting he had ever attended. He had been with the organization for many, many years and he told me that he had never learned to write his name. His wife signed his checks to cash them and he certainly did not the company to know this. I agreed to write his name on the document and I made him a happy man.
At another location a fellow told me that many years before he had cosigned a financial note for a friend and the friend had not paid the loan and at great personal hardship to his whole family he was forced to pay loan. It had nearly ruined his marriage but a marriage counselor had drawn up a vow that he would never sign anything without his wife’s participation. Again, with his permission I simply wrote his name on the document. Another fellow explained that he had to rush out of the room to visit the men’s room and had just forgotten about signing the document.
If I hadn’t followed up I might have drawn all sorts of wrong conclusions. I learned that it is always best to ask questions when possible before concluding that somehow you might have fallen short or somehow upset someone in an audience with your remarks. Am I saying that I always batted 1,000? Certainly not, but I did have a remarkable batting average with this program.
Generally, whenever I finished delivering my Declaration of Interdependence Positive Interaction presentationat major corporations in the U.S. and my Canadian version in various Canadian locations the entire audience would come forward and sign a personal commitment. Once in a while I would notice someone hanging back and it was obvious to me that they had a problem with the signing of the commitment. I was reviewing some old tapes of talks and found one of a presentation I did in Nova Scotia and I recalled how I checked with one such fellow and he made me swear not to repeat our conversation. At first he asked me if I would sign his name for him. I didn’t understand the request but when I asked a few more questions I learned that he had been brought in from a rather remote spot and this was the first such meeting he had ever attended. He had been with the organization for many, many years and he told me that he had never learned to write his name. His wife signed his checks to cash them and he certainly did not the company to know this. I agreed to write his name on the document and I made him a happy man. At another location a fellow told me that many years before he had cosigned a financial note for a friend and the friend had not paid the loan and at great personal hardship to his whole family he was forced to pay loan. It had nearly ruined his marriage but a marriage counselor had drawn up a vow that he would never sign anything without his wife’s participation. Again, with his permission I simply wrote his name on the document. Another fellow explained that he had to rush out of the room to visit the men’s room and had just forgotten about signing the document. If I hadn’t followed up I might have drawn all sorts of wrong conclusions. I learned that it is always best to ask questions when possible before concluding that somehow you might have fallen short or somehow upset someone in an audience with your remarks. Am I saying that I always batted 1,000? Certainly not, but I did have a remarkable batting average with this program.
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