Eileen Youens, J.D.

The newly-sworn-in city council of Reality City is having their first board meeting, and Finance Manager Frank Facts is giving his budget forecast presentation. New Councilmember Kirk interrupts Frank suddenly, “Frank, I must confess that I’m confused by this budget. I don’t see anything here in the budget about purchasing transporters.”

Frank pauses, open-mouthed, waiting for one of the other council members to laugh. When they don’t, Frank repeats, “Transporters?”

“Yes,” says Kirk. “As you know, the traffic in Reality City is really bad, and many of us have promised our constituents that we’d provide transporters to help ease traffic and cut down on pollution.” The other council members nod in agreement.

“Transporters, like ‘Beam me up, Scotty’?” asks Frank, disbelieving.

“Exactly,” says Kirk. “I assume this was just an oversight. But I want to see these transporters in the budget presentation for our next meeting, OK?”

“O…K….,” responds Frank, slowly, shaking his head. When Frank gets back to his office, he immediately calls the retired Reality City Finance Manager, Trish True. After he tells Trish what happened at the meeting, Frank asks, “Trish, what should I do?” Trish says, “I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do.”

Maybe you haven’t found yourself in Frank’s situation exactly. But I’ll bet you have been asked to work on purchases or projects that were doomed from the start. Or you’ve worked with elected officials or department heads who had unrealistic expectations. The advice Trish is about to give Frank will be useful in those situations, too. So let’s listen in: Continue reading →