More than Ghosts can Haunt

My current primary project is within sight of completion, so I’m looking for my next project. Of the interviews and meetings I’ve had so far, one stood out beautifully and another badly.

The lovely one was with a company that prides itself on the high quality of its work. I tend to evaluate more by what people do than what they say, and in this case their actions were impeccable.

In the other case, I got email asking me to call someone early in the evening. That meant right after leaving my current client’s site, so I had no chance to research the person ahead of time. It was the CEO of a company that provides a certain kind of software. Think enterprise level—that kind of software.

First, it was the weirdest, most unfocused “interview” I’ve ever had. Second, this fellow was far too keen about my past involvement with a particular other software vendor. He mentioned he used to run it. He was its executive vice president.

This is unfortunate. On his watch, that vendor tried to get me to falsify test results. Never mind what their glossy marketing literature says. Remember, I care more about actions than words, and my integrity is not for sale.

Ghosts aren’t the only things that haunt. Past actions do too. Nobody is perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, and those mistakes haunt us. But I would rather work with people who try to do well than with those who intentionally do not.

Wouldn’t you?