0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

4 ● 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business
I know. I’ve tried. As a freelance writer and producer, I have worked
on amazing projects for terrible people, including a greedy, obnoxious
celebrity and the campus loony at an elite graduate school. The production
company story involved a really famous person who misappropriated
production funds raised by a nonprofit organization and is too upsetting
to share. (I’ll include it in my memoir.)
But lessons can be learned from my most traumatic work experience.
In 2008, the Great Recession prompted me to accept what seemed like a
dream job at a prestigious business school. I was hired to write white papers
and articles, produce audio and video clips for a web site, and coproduce
a lecture series on the future of television. Best of all, I was asked to write,
produce, and direct a documentary based on interviews with top industry
executives visiting the school.
My four-day schedule allowed me to still speak at Bloomberg TV–
sponsored small business events a few times each month.
Unfortunately, six months into the job, I was suffering from blinding tension
headaches and my stomach was in a twist. Every morning, as I walked
past the security bars on the windows in the stairwell, I felt like I was heading
to my prison cell. The chemistry between my boss and me was terrible. I knew
I was toast when he called me into his office for a performance review.
He shut the door, sat down, and began listing my infractions: I walked
too quickly down the hall, creating a “wake” that disturbed his secretary;
at a staff meeting, my jacket accidentally brushed against her and I did not
apologize. Worst of all—the day before our biggest public lecture (which
drew a standing-room-only crowd of 250)—I left campus during my lunch
hour to get my hair cut instead of helping her prepare the name tags.
I remember watching his mouth move but not hearing any sound. It
was surreal. Not a word about my writing, public relations, or production
skills. No mention of the interviews being conducted in the new studio
funded by the dean’s office. No mention of teaching students production
techniques or producing a broadcast-quality film on a cable-access budget.
Of course, things went downhill after that. He desperately wanted me
to quit, but I was not willing to give up this job without a fight. Naïve about
academic politics, I met with the human resources director, the assistant
dean, and an employee assistance counselor. The counselor told me my
boss was well known for being “difficult and quirky,” and my days were
numbered. He also told me I was toast because my boss was a “rainmaker,”
who brought big money into the school. I begged the dean for a transfer to