Leading from the Middle

Caption: “Hank Drank “ Hank Williams, 1923 – 1953. The song title’s brevity surpasses W. H. Auden’s poem “Fleas”, “Adam Had ’Em”.
This is the second installment of country music titles. The first appears here and is related to my writing on Latvian folk music to be found here, here and here.
As a noted industrialist remarked, “There’s more good sense in this music than in a year’s worth of Harvard Business Review.”
1. Walk out Backwards Slowly So I Think You’re Coming in.
(For the farewell party when your best work buddy on the East coast work decides to go West. Sob!)
2. If You Can’t Bite, Don’t Growl.
(If the organization won’t let you back up your threat to fire a relentless under-performer, then don’t threaten. Just keep on ‘em. One of two things will happen. He will improve or he will leave to get away from the daily pressure of showing up.)
3. All I Want from You (Is Away.)
(Tell me about it! Like the previously listed “Thank God and Greyhound You’re Gone!” But, don’t sing about it until that person is ON THE BUS and THE BUS IS MOVING; fate and her co-conspirators may be lurking in the wings to keep that “irreplaceable” person in place and on your case.)
4. I Ain’t No Cowboy (I Just Found This Hat.)
(The song describes my funny feeling about taking on a new way of managing without much of a clue. I meant well, but at times I was riding bareback on a run away horse.)
5. You’re Going To Ruin My Bad Reputation.
(When my work team had great success and accomplished the “impossible” that confounded my bad reputation among the deniers. But not for long; theirs was a sliding scale!)
6. You Can’t Build a Fire in the Rain.
(If doubters surround you, all eager to stomp on your campfire, you might feel like this. Same effect:, You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd.
7. The Bridge Washed out, I Can’t Swim, and My Baby’s on the Other Side.
(Classic. Use it when you need to explain why you are a no show. And for that difficult phone call to the spouse after you’ve gone missing for several days after the out-of-town convention: Don’t Pay the Ransom, Honey, I’ve Escaped.

Caption: Hank Williams and band in his prime.

 

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