Page 212 - Paulisms: Gold Nuggets for Small Business

The Rhodesian Factor
I met a guy in the late 1990s named Stu, who had recently immigrated to New Zealand. Looking at this guy, you’d never pick him for being in anyone’s army. He was a nice enough chap, but fairly skinny, friendly and smoked a lot. Anyway, he told me his story about his time as a soldier in the Rhodesian Army at a time when Rhodesia was at war with Mozambique.
One story that really stuck with me was when they had to go into the bush and befriend Mozambique rebels who were apparently deserting the Mozambique government. They were coming over the border, and Stu and his company were tasked to assist them with training to go back and fight their own government forces. On one of these occasions, after recently departing their joint bush camp, they were told by their own HQ via radio that the rebels were in fact still loyal to the Mozambique government, so they were to go back and ‘dispatch’ these rebels at the same camp where they’d met and befriended them – even sharing family photos. They followed their orders and killed every one of them.
This is a story I often tell regarding licensees, contractors or staff, because one day you might have to be a Rhodesian soldier and go back and ‘exterminate’ (aka finish) that person, or at least make them redundant. You’ll have to sit down with him and maybe even with his wife and you’ll have to tell him you’re not renewing his licence because of the quality issues you’ve been having. Or a staff member who has become a friend has to be made redundant or you need to start the disciplinary process with them.
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