by John Brooker | Mar 16, 2012 | Facilitate meetings
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 76B When you make a mistake, it is useful to draw some lessons from it… “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” George Bernard Shaw, Playwright Have you ever had a communication perceived not as you intended? In the original Gorilla 76 on “Lever Your Life” I made the remark: “I could have attributed it [my lack of motivation] to the plumbers who installed our new bathroom, tradesmen who (despite being the bathroom supplier’s referral) would have made “King of the Cowboys”, Roy Rogers, a Native American squaw in comparison. They certainly made me miserable with their lies and bodges.” I received a few critical responses from readers who interpreted the remark as a slur on Native Americans and I assume that more people may have been offended, but chose not to write. I have responded personally to those who wrote and I am writing this special edition for other readers to make my apologies, explain what I meant and to draw some lessons in communication from it. First, if you did interpret it as a slur, I sincerely apologise. I intended none but did make some errors in communicating, in particular as the Gorilla is read in many different countries. To explain, I will use three questions that were sent to me by readers: “Did you intend your readers to assume that cowboys are good and Native American squaws are not?” No, I did not intend this. The term cowboy in Britain is used colloquially for bad tradesmen. I was seeking to illustrate that my plumbers so “out cowboyed”...
