That's an Interesting Question

I’ve had the good fortune to have many jobs in my life. Almost every one has brought me some wonderful experiences. It has given me the opportunity to meet interesting people. One of the most interesting was Claude Deschamps.

Claude was the Executive Director of Softball Canada. Little did I know that part of the interview process for the job of Technical Director was finding somebody who could complement his abilities.

Claude was not a difficult man to get along with. They don’t come friendlier. I don’t think that anybody would disagree that he was a peculiar man, though. How was he different? Claude would work seven days a week, usually well into the evening. Part of the lore is that the President of the sport phoned the office on Christmas Day and Claude was there. He never asked for a raise, stating that he would gladly work for free. This didn’t help my negotiating power when it came time to renew my contract. Almost every day he had the same lunch, a clubhouse sandwich and fries with gravy. While looking after sponsorships was really his task and keeping statistics at the national championships the Technical Director’s, we were flexible enough to swap responsibilities.

Working for any national organization in Canada is difficult. Being such a large country with a political system that gives great powers to the provinces, keeping everybody happy can be very difficult.

Claude had it all figured out. Everybody recognized his hard work, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have to grit his teeth often. When I arrived, he took me under his wing and made sure that I benefited from the knowledge he had obtained through many years of experience. One of his best nuggets of advice came when we were flying to my first annual meeting in Whitehorse.

Claude said, “John, this weekend, somebody is going to come up to you and ask you how you feel about this or what your opinion on that is.”

“So?” I replied.

“Whatever you do, do not tell anyone how you think,” came the reply.

I asked, “Then what do I do?”

“Just say ‘That’s an interesting question’, that’s all. The result will be that you will be entertained for about 20 minutes about what that person thinks about the subject. You see, they really don’t care what you think. They want you to know how they think. Anyway, if you give your opinion you can’t win. You are in trouble if you have a different viewpoint from the person asking the question. If you are in agreement, he will go tell other delegates your reply and some may not agree with you, then you are in hot water again. It is better to be quiet and listen.”

The next day at lunch, I was walking down the streets of Whitehorse. I met George, a delegate. The first words out his mouth were, “Hi, John. This is an interesting annual meeting. What do you think about …?” My reply? “That’s an interesting question!” For the next twenty minutes I listened to what George thought. I just smiled, not because I enjoyed the monologue. I smiled because my new friend had taught me a valuable lesson in life that I still cherish today.