"It's not whether you make a mistake that counts," Dad always said. "The true measure of a man is how you handle the mistake once you realize you've made it."
In my post titled "Taking On Bad Buyers," I wrote about the actions of Mike Mullin, the Director of PR and Media Relations at Smurfit-Stone -- how he hired my wife to improve the image of Smurfit's corporate officers in preparation for bankruptcy, knowing full well her invoice would not get paid before the Chapter 11 was filed.
Yesterday, Cindy received some legalese from Smurfit-Stone about pre-petition claims. The plain English version basically says, "If you'll agree to continue to do business with Smurfit-Stone, we'll pay you everything we owe you within five days."
I have no proof the post I wrote, or the assistance I received from people who read and forwarded it, had anything whatsoever to do with Smurfit agreeing to pay Cindy in full. But I do know that at least four of the corporate officers whose bios were copyedited were informed of my post -- and actually took the time to read it.
And I do know that when Cindy spoke to the Smurfit representative who is handling pre-petition claims, he was said, "I can't believe you're being offered the full payment. Everyone else is getting offers of 30 percent."
But just because I don't know what actually happened, that doesn't mean I can't choose to believe the best.
Therefore, I choose to believe that at least one of the corporate officers at Smurfit-Stone read my post, said some form of "this is crap" and decided to do the right thing.
Whoever you are, you've earned this man's respect.
Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association
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