In all humility, I don’t think it’s too bold of a statement to say that I’m a pretty likable person. I build rapport easily with people, and I believe that I am respected among my peers. I make mistakes, sure, and I could rattle off plenty of scenarios that I wish I could reenact. All in all, though, people tend to smile when I walk into a room, and I have few enemies in the world.

Today, though, I managed to tick off both a colleague AND a dean. How’s that for starting off the week on a positive note?!? There is no sense rehashing the nitty-gritty details here; suffice it to say that I stood my ground on a couple of matters where we were in disagreement. (The situations were unrelated, ironically enough … I upset them each for completely different reasons).

I don’t like the idea of having tense working relationships with anyone, but I stand by my scruples in both situations, and if I had it to do over, I think I would have responded similarly. Going forward will be interesting, because I’m not sure how smoothly the water will flow under the bridge for a while. I will do my best to remain impartial and professional, as I’d like to think is my usual custom.