From Donna’s Desk
This week I discovered the source of our mysterious purple candle. Not a rogue vendor. Not a black-market wax syndicate. Corporate swag.
I spent two days tracing an ignition risk that arrived gift-wrapped with a motivational slogan.
Here is the lesson I am choosing to learn, rather than the rant I would very much like to deliver: leaders create problems when we chase optics without checking impact. A candle says “warmth and inspiration.” A candle in an office says “sprinkler system rehearsal.” Both can be true. Only one gets us through Q4.
What I did:
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Collected the swag before it collected us.
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Logged a Facilities alert titled “Morale Item, Combustible.”
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Sent a polite note upstream with alternatives that travel better than fire. My shortlist: Tea, snacks, cacti, gift cards, thank-you emails that arrive on time.
What I am still doing:
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Coaching the team that we can appreciate the sentiment and retire the wick.
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Building the reflex to ask “What could this spark?” before we celebrate.
If you are a middle manager, you know this dance. You solve the problem, then you gently explain to the people who mailed you the problem that the problem was, in fact, the mailing.
Let’s talk:
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What is the most well-intended corporate gift that created chaos in your world?
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How do you tell senior leadership “thank you, and also please never send that again” while keeping the relationship intact?
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What swag actually works for morale without a safety briefing?
Drop a comment. I will be here, appreciating the thought, and swapping open flame for open calendars.
-Donna
#IamDonnaLake #LeadershipInTheMiddle #OfficeSwag #QuietLeadership #RiskManagement #CorporateReality #DonnaLake
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Want to grab some Donna Lake swag? Head over to Pithitude.
