I live in one of the “luxury” apartment buildings in Manhattan. And for 95 percent of the people who live in this building, they get to enjoy the full luxury experience. For me, however, it’s different.
I live on the side of the building that touches a major retailer’s loading dock and storage facility. Each day and night I’m accosted by noises that transfer, making it sound like pallets are being dragged and dropped literally above my head. The physics of sound transfer are astonishing. This happens all hours of the day and night, making a full night’s rest a wishful thought.
For months I put in complaints, made suggestions for change, offered potential remedies -- all falling on deaf ears. After realizing that the building management had no capacity to implement change, I went directly to the property manager. I wrote to him, offering multiple solutions.
After not receiving a response for eight business days, I re-sent a message asking him for the courtesy of a response.
His first line: “Hi Jill–a rent reduction is not possible.”
Not possible?
That combination of words is not readily in my vocabulary.
The grammatically-literal me wanted to write back, “I urge you to consult a dictionary for the meaning of the word ‘possible.’” Or, “What you mean to say is that it is possible, but that you’re not willing to consider it.” But I held my tongue (or fingers in this case).
Telling someone that something is “not possible” is a dangerous action. If you do this to your employees, you might as well toss money in the trash.
Unfortunately, managers and leaders do it all too often.
When you tell someone that something is “not possible” you typically get one of two reactions:
- The person will be determined to prove you wrong.
- The person’s spirit will be broken.
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