the guard

there is a guard posted deep within an establishment who finds himself in a predicament. you see, this guard's company has recently received new management. if you were to ask the guard, he would tell you he personally is of the opinion that it was a hostile takeover, and is not a fan of this corporate restructuring. 

why; you ask, is the guard less than enthusiastic? i will happily explain on the guard's behalf, beginning with what the guard's life was like prior to the upheaval. 

for years and years, our stalwart sentry would stand at his post, and occasionally, he would be called by management to come grab a box or a stack of files to bring to the room where he stands guard. his instructions were simple. place the information in the room—it didn't matter where—and make certain no one disturbed what was inside. 

this room was full of stacks and stacks of, who-knows-what, that the upper management deemed something they would address later. in all the years our loyal friend stood at his post outside the door, no one came to confront the ever-growing piles. 

the sentry often wondered what he was guarding. there had been stories, of course; reports of business where management had allowed another company to overstep its bounds. questionable transactions that had been explained away, policies that had been violated but deemed isolated incidents. the devoted attendant rightly deduced that he was the keeper of the many times where management reviewed the matter just long enough to decide no immediate action was necessary, boxed up the report, and sent it downstairs for no one to visit the contents again.

who was he to judge how the establishment was conducting business? those decisions were above his pay grade, and frankly, the guard had it easy watching over stacks of boxes and paper—no matter how disorganized and cluttered that room was. and on top of that, this sentry was honored to work for an establishment that prided itself on the principles of: confidence, steadiness under pressure, discernment and intuition, strength, and dependability. the guard admired these integral principles and strived to hold to them himself. 

six months ago, there was talk. talk of an upheaval in conduct. a trusted fellow company—three, to be exact—had been exposed through a pattern of repeated breaches and ethical violations that the guard's establishment could not overlook anymore. a consultant was brought in to look around with an outsider's perspective. and that was when the guard began to suspect change was imminent, which made him nervous.  

the consultant asked many questions, and listened, and wandered down halls forgotten which helped the board of the establishment to see that strategical pivots would benefit the company immensely, and that begins with management. no one in the company expected things to move as quickly as they did, and the guard keeping his post deep within the walls had not witnessed all the changes first hand, which brought an unsettled feeling. he knew from a lifetimes of experience that transformation was uncomfortable without fail. he did not like change.

one of the most surprising moments to the guard was when the consultant began looking into the company's prided principles they lived by. the consultant uncovered discovered that the principles themselves were not the problem; no—the principles were worth holding onto. it was the methods management had been using to achieve them that needed to change. the consultant pointed out those methods had been far more costly to the company than anyone had realized:

• confidence was obtained when staying in control.
• steadiness under pressure was achieved by overriding distress.
• discernment and intuition was held so long as conclusions or understanding wasn't destabilized or inconvenient.
• strength was measured by not needing much from others.
• and dependability was achieved by overriding the company's limits. 

the guard watched and felt anxious as the company dismantled the management. change in management meant