Who Is the Asterisk* Man

Perhaps you’ve met him. He’s the guy who absolutely cannot give you a straight answer. He’s the one is so caught up in the detail of examination that he can’t get things finished…or started. Why? He doesn’t see the word in absolute black and white…only shades of careful and thoughtful greys. He feels there are not only reasons, but reasons for the reasons. In his work, he would rather be precisely wrong for the right reasons, than partially right on unexamined reasons.

Even on the most mundane of questions, he will try you…

“Is the sky blue?” I ask.

“It depends,” the Asterisk Man answers.

“On what?” my exasperation is sometimes hard to hide.

“Well, the time of day, for one. And weather patterns, as well. And you can’t forget the effect on the topical landscape either. There is a study that indicated that…” I walk away, defeated. I can still hear him capturing the essence of each and every variation as I move down the hall.

Maybe this guy works for you…
If he does, you’re lucky, especially if you know how to use him. If you don’t, he might be paralyzing your organization. He loves to give you every scenario, but hates to make the call on a decision. If he is a manager who gets paid for making decisions – well, you may want to pull that decision back. Let him be the guy that does the careful analysis, gives it to you, and you’ll pull the trigger.

But what if you work for him…
More than likely, he is your customer.

In that case, you do your best to remove the stress of him making a bad (in his mind) decision…and move quick when he agrees, or you might end up like the Sears guy trying to sell Brett Favre a TV (go to youtube.com and search on “Brett Favre Sears Commercial-Cold Feet” – it’s worth it).

Sears guy: “There are some guys out there that really agonize in making decisions. It's not their thing. They waffle; they don't know what they're going to do.”

Brett Favre: “Yeah, those guys drive me crazy.”

Sears guy: "Well, when you think?"

Brett Favre: "I'll take it!"

Sears guy: "All Right!"

Brett Favre: (three seconds later…) "umh... I don't know"

(As the poor Sears guy learned, you have to act fast before another reason surfaces to stop the sale).