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The Minus Sign
By Julius Johnston

"Come in," he growled. "What is it this time?"

"It's the mid-term presentation for corporate review in about two weeks," I replied.

"Well don't just stand there, let me see it." He demanded.

I walked over to the round table to lay out the charts for his examination. He came from behind his desk and began to scrutinize what I had put on the table. He murmured something under his breath and began turning the charts one by one. Each time a chart was flipped, I heard him mumble something under his breath.

Once a week I had to go to the office of the Senior Vice President. He had a broad, barrel chest, with large hands, thick white hair, and an aged, scowled, and wrinkled face. Retirement seemed near for this powerful, respected, and feared leader, one of the "good ole boys." I had the responsibility to review the work of our department with him and to get his approval before we could proceed with it. My department was the Strategic and Business Planning department for Computer Services Group. Our work entailed drafting, writing, and updating the business and operational plans of the entire computer services support to the company, including any commercial and government contracts we held.

His office was huge and second only to the Group President's office. The furniture, art, awards, trophies, and other knick-knacks displayed in his office impressed me. The office had a view of the courtyard three stories below with its green trees, flowers, fountains, and usually people strolling to and from their cars and offices. You could see in the sky the occasional airplane passing above to their distant destinations. The office had a massive wooden desk with its equally large, stuffed chair behind it. The entire atmosphere had a way of making me feel small and insignificant.

I had entered his office with the Quarterly Operating Plan charts. There was a sofa and a couple of arm chairs facing a coffee table, which held a crystal statue of the Wall Street bear and bull images. These meetings were always a challenge. He berated and shamed me every time for what he called shoddy work on these early drafts. This presentation would be no exception, including some surprises for me in the charts from his perspective. Those surprises are still fixed in my memory long after this meeting.

Imagine a young, African-American male working in a predominantly white male, corporate office complex with almost no other people of color around except an occasional secretary or janitor. The office was stiff with formality and all the men wore white shirts with their suits and ties, a bland, business atmosphere to intimidate anyone who was different. He was a king in this environment. His presence justified and sanctified the tradition of this workplace. His voice boomed and resonated with authority demanding respect and obedience. I felt I had entered Dante's Inferno and this must be atonement for some old debt of karma or something.

Finally, he stopped and said, "What the hell is this damn minus sign doing on all of these charts. It does not belong on the charts. Get rid of them."

I stood in shock and said, "What minus signs?"

"Those damn minus signs in the heading of every one of these damn charts." He replied.

He referred to the way we had titled each chart in the presentation:

Computer Services
Mid-Term Operations Report

"That's the way it is suppose to be," I said, almost instantly regretting having said anything.

"You don't know a damn thing about how it is supposed to be. Get rid of those damn minus!" He said.

"But you should hyphenate-"

"What the hell did I just tell you?" He said loudly. "If you don't get those damn minus signs off those charts, then I will figure out how to get you transferred to Alaska or somewhere else like that."

For a brief moment my career flashed by my eyes in the way the say your life flashes by just before you die. Here I stood a young, black manager arguing with a very senior vice president over the punctuation of a presentation chart. I wanted very badly to tell him my grammar was correct, but my career-sense said not worth it. I mumbled an apology and grabbed the charts off the table. Some rework later that evening would be in order and I would try again the next morning.

As a Vice President when I look back on those moments, I think about how I must come off to the people who diligently work preparing charts for my review. I ponder what anguish and fear I cause in responding to their charts. I suspect I am just as gruff in my way and have opinions about their charts based on my experience. He knew the company's culture had its ways and the other divisions of the company would be presenting their charts to the Board of Directors without the "minus sign" in the headings. The issue was not about grammar. He did not want our group to stand out and cause attention to be drawn to something as "minor" as the heading, which in turn might cause more scrutiny and criticism of the rest of the presentation. He knew it was better not to be the nail sticking up asking to be hammered down. I, of course, knew only what I saw from my perspective and the "grammar" was the most important thing. He came off as being a gruff, scowling executive, but he really was an experienced, caring leader who was working hard to help me be a successful manager.

I learned a lot from him and believe his mentoring was instrumental in my becoming a senior executive in the company.

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"The office had a massive wooden desk with its equally large, stuffed chair behind it. The entire atmosphere had a way of making me feel small and insignificant."

"I felt I had entered Dante's Inferno and this must be atonement for some old debt of karma or something."

"He knew it was better not to be the nail sticking up asking to be hammered down."

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