Breakfast in America
WMMM #115- This week I share some thoughts about embracing change.
Jeff Keplar Newsletter August 18, 2026 5 min read
Another Day in Paradise
“...You don’t know what it’s like to be me, out here for you. It is an up-at-dawn pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about. Okay?” (sports agent Jerry Maguire venting with his client, wide-receiver Rod Tisdale in the movie “Jerry Maguire” - 1996)
Ever encounter a situation where you are giving your best - everything you have - to a sales situation and your employer makes an already difficult job worse?
We all have.
When you do this job long enough, it is unlikely that you will escape this phenomenon.
“...Do your job. Don’t you tell me to dance…I am an ATHLETE! I am not an entertainer…I do not dance, and I do not start the pre-season without a contract!” (Rod Tisdale reacting to his agent Jerry’s advice to “bury the attitude, remember the pure joy of playing the game.”)
Jerry was wisely executing a strategy to convince Rod’s team’s general manager that Rod wasn’t as selfish and self-serving as he appeared. The strategy was to show another side of Rod, one that loved playing the game, loved playing for his teammates more than for himself, and loved the idea of being a part of something bigger than any individual award or lucrative contract, a Super Bowl Champion football team.
Rod, on the other hand, did not want to “dance”.
He wanted to sit out training camp and the pre-season to squeeze the most money out of the team during his current contract negotiations.
This was making a tough job even tougher for Jerry.
Friendly Fire
You have chosen to pursue an opportunity that promises to be extremely difficult.
“Against all odds” is overused, but you get the picture.
If successful, the rewards are plentiful.
However, there is a far greater risk that you will fail.
You call upon your considerable experience to devise a strategy that gives you the best chance for success.
Your execution will have to be nearly flawless.
After several months, you can see that your strategy is sound.
It just takes time and patience.
You stick with your process.
Success is within reach.
And then it happens.
An organizational change places you under new management.
You haven’t worked with them before and, more importantly, they don’t know you.
They are eager to demonstrate to their management that they can have an immediate impact.
They see the pipeline entry for your opportunity.
They immediately highlight all of the “risks” in your deal (of which you are well aware) and change the optics with their management.
They position your deal as at risk and claim they arrived in the nick of time to “save it.”
You are told to execute a series of tasks with this opportunity.
“Told” is the operative word.
There typically isn’t collaboration, but this is framed as “helping you.”
And it will be you doing the execution - there is no way they are getting their hands dirty.
If you fail, it was a flawed execution on your part.
If you succeed, it was their “help” - they “saved” this deal in the nick of time.
Sound familiar?
A recent conversation with a former colleague revealed a scenario much like the one I’ve just described.
What do you do?
The first obstacle is the “tasks” you were “told” to execute.
You know that if you do what you were told to do, it will cripple the transaction.
Flawless execution or not.
They are absolutely the wrong things to be doing with this opportunity at this moment.
Do you invest the time and energy switching the ownership of these tasks from you to them?
Surely they can execute the very tasks that they’ve ordered you to perform.
I would advise against that course of action.
I prefer to maintain control of the opportunity and the process.
Since you believe that performing those tasks is absolutely the wrong thing to do, then don’t do them.
Not doing those tasks will create a chasm between you and them that you cannot recover from.
You are better off acknowledging this right now.
My advice is to make the best of a situation that you did not create.
In my experience, it is best to face a situation like this head-on.
Prepare a written response that highlights the steps you will take to close this transaction.
I realize that I am making it sound like a sure thing, and it is far from that.
Plenty of unknowns remain, and this risky transaction, while improved due to your efforts, is far from a done deal.
Do not itemize the tasks you were told to perform and explain why they are a bad idea.
You want to leave your new management with an escape hatch from accountability.
Place it all on your shoulders.
Tell them if they allow you to execute your plan, the transaction will close.
Close the deal, deliver the revenue to your employer, cash your commission check and deal with any fallout at that time.
Don’t worry about fallout now.
They will agree to support your request.
They won’t push back because they don’t have a better alternative for converting this opportunity.
Your new management will not insert themselves into the driver’s seat - way too much accountability for their type of personality.
Things Changed - And You Had Nothing to Do With That
We’ve made a lot of assumptions and some omissions in relaying this story and providing our advice.
For example, we omitted the details of the orders given by the new management and why it was obvious that, if executed, they would have crippled the transaction.
We omitted the logic behind the opinion “that you cannot recover from.”
If you encounter a situation like this, it is likely to cause you to reconsider your prospects for continued employment with your employer.
Rightfully so.
But your decision to do what you thought was right - best for your employer, yourself, and your customer - had nothing to do with your future employment.
That was out of your control.
It happened the moment the organizational change took place, and the new management chose their behavior toward you.
We need to remember to accept the things we cannot change, have the courage to change those that we can, and have the wisdom to know the difference.
Sound familiar?
This is taken from the “Serenity Prayer.”
Our time with that employer is likely coming to an end.
There is nothing we can do about it.
Be thankful for the opportunity given to you.
Focus on being the best you can be - a model employee, acting in your employer’s best interests - with the time you have left.
Do not allow the behavior of the new management to cause you to behave in a manner inconsistent with your values.
Begin looking forward to taking “a jumbo across the water” and having “kippers for breakfast…they’ve got to have ‘em in Texas, ‘cos everyone’s a millionaire.”
The Good Life is Here
The title of this edition comes from a light-hearted song by the band Supertramp.
The song’s message is about escaping to greener pastures.
Believing somewhere else is better.
Having your cake and eating it too.
Longing for the ideal.
Innocence.
We should take a step back and try to embrace the childlike enthusiasm of finding a new job, a greener pasture, and having our cake.
And wherever you land, that is where you will be - the good life.
Enjoy it.
Lessons Learned
1) Accept the things we cannot change - do not focus an ounce of energy on them.
2) Have the courage to change those things under our control.
3) Do not allow others’ behavior to alter ours - continue to exercise our reasoned choice.
4) The Good Life is Here - Wherever We Are.
Thank you for reading,
Jeff
