Page 226 - MY STORY

agencies of the Department of Defense, helped capture

numerous competitive R&D contracts, continued to
improve the computational capabilities of an
electromagnetics design program he was instrumental in

creating at MDRL, provided highly trained analysts, and
was highly respected by his team. He was considered a
“National Asset” by many in the US Government and

industry in the field of computational electromagnetics.

My problem was that he was doing exactly 1) what we

expected of him and 2) what we were paying him to do.
So, based on his high compensation and position as a

leader in our organization, I presented Lou with our filled
out appraisal form marked with a broad rating of “meets
expectations.” He was pretty darned well puzzled,
concerned, and felt that I had fundamentally denigrated

him in some major way because I did not provide him the
honored mantle of “exceeding expectations” to be

inserted in his record.

My explanations of how we established that rating based

on our expectations of superior performance with his
assignment and pay scale did nothing to assuage his
concern over that piece of paper going into his record, and

his perception that maybe I was “underwhelmed” by his