very professional colleague

my boss had arranged for a meeting two days ago with another department and made us attend the meeting. he wanted to make sure we fully support this department (at least that was what he said although i wasn't sure if this was what he meant considering he started off his employment clashing very badly with this particular department head - let's call him mr ewe). mr ewe has been with the company a couple of years and is very well-respected by all. he gets along very well with people regardless of how high or how low their position is. he is very warm with people yet seldom cross the line to being personal, not sure how to explain this, but he has the gift to make a person feel very comfortable. everyone of us in the company holds him in very high regard. 

now back to the story. just 15min before the meeting commenced, he called me and another fellow manager into his room. he instructed us to be prepared with a very clear agenda cos mr ewe "knows  his business well and what he wants". it was a very curious instruction considering it was he who insisted this meeting and that we have no particular agenda with mr ewe. what more what we have been working very well with mr ewe's department.

anyway, the meeting started and true enough, mr ewe thanked my boss and asked my boss to start off with his agenda. my boss didn't have any except that he wanted to see how best we can help his department. with this input, mr ewe pulled out his agenda and went through the meeting using his agenda, point-by-point. and what's even more interesting was - while mr ewe focused on the issues and the discussions of how to move matters forward objectively, while my boss kept focusing the discussion on us, as in - how screwed up and trashy we were and was quick to blame us when any issue was brought up. and whenever he did so, the mr ewe and his staff kept defending us and pointing out that we had worked very well together and that issues that happened were one off but reflected process flaws or policy gaps that needed to be addressed. the meeting went very smoothly and mr ewe was in full control of it.

today, something even more interesting happened. i met mr ewe along the office cubicle aisle and i took the opportunity to thank him for a very fruitful meeting. i thought it was only courteous to do so but his reaction to me caught me off-guard. he pulled me aside and invited me into his office. he then closed the door and talked to me in a manner that i have never seen him do so. he shared his views about my boss and also his tensions with him. and he added he could also sense a lot of tensions amongst us managers in my department and that he was concerned about our well-being. he also shared that through his grapevine, i'll probably be the next to leave the company and that he's sad if that happens. he made me promise to talk to him before i make any decisions. i was kinda dumbfounded by this whole event. but in a way, it felt good to know that there are people who are concerned about us and keeps a look out for us.

:-)