I promise this is the last of the inaugural blog posts, but I can’t resist one more. This concerns the redo of the swearing in of President Obama. Set your politics aside and stay with me.
You know that Chief Justice Roberts and President Obama had, as Hoots would say, a “moment” during his swearing in ceremony. Before they had finished they completely botched the oath of office which is prescribed very specifically in no less than the Constitution of the United States of America.
From the moment of the goof, scholars and pundits have been debating—is a mangled oath legal or is it not?
What is interesting to me is that today, 24 hours or so after the officially goofed swearing in, Chief Justice Roberts and President Obama had a Presidential-redo. In front of a few reporters, they did it right (and I gather v…e….r….y s…l….o….w…l…y).
It’s interesting to think about the “redo.” Don’t you know Chief Justice Roberts heard about his gaffe? And I bet he was thinking, “boy do I wish I had brought a copy of that oath to read from.” Whatever his mistake, President Obama and Chief Justice Roberts got a redo. Now Obama is President for sure.
I don’t know about you, but there have been a few moments in my life where I wished there was a “rewind” button or that I could get a redo.
In honor of this historic event, I hereby officially declare today as “National Redo Day.”
What a great thing a redo is.
Do you have any moments in your life you’d like to “redo”? I sure do. While I can’t rewind my life, I can let some people off the hook and offer them a redo.
So do it…let someone off the hook. Give a coworker who’s really messed up your life a redo. Give someone you love an inaugural redo. Chief Justice Roberts will never forget his redo, and I know that whoever you decide to give your redo to will be grateful. And, what’s better, you’ll strengthen your relationship.
How about you? How do you feel about redos?
Steve Thomas
Partner, Oneicity
Photo Credit: Dan Taylor-Watt
1 comment
As a hotel manager, I learned that asking the guest to give us a redo was carefully worded in marketing speak, it was called the “100% Satisfaction Guarantee”. We give the guest their money back and hope they return for a redo. The marketers were smart enough to realize that if you just flat out ask your customer for a redo they might think your too incompetent and take their business elsewhere. In line with Steve’s above proposal, If you, as a customer, extend forgiveness and offer a redo, that expanded relationship of trust and forgiveness will be repaid. We all have our bad days, its our relationships that help us get through them.