The Quiet Ones

Almost every time the news has a report of some nut going postal on his workplace or neighbors, I turn to my wife and say the line that some eyewitness is going to use: “I don’t know, he was always pretty quiet. Pretty much kept to himself…” and most of the time I’m a second or 2 ahead of the TV.   But not all the quiet ones are nuts-in-waiting. Last night on Hell’s Kitchen, the last of the loudmouths was sent packing and the three quietest, but most competent, competitors were left to fight for the title.  Early on, it was easy to ignore these three because other contestants were loud, obnoxious, incompetent, or all three (sometimes at once).  Ultimately, talent came through.

As the owner of one of those “big” personalities (some of you might have other terms for it), I have nothing against them.  However, it’s easy sometimes to lose sight of the quiet ones who are great at what they do but are often overshadowed by their louder coworkers.  Over the years, I’ve had a bunch of great peers and subordinates who one would never have even known were in the room.  They had great senses of humor, were terrific to hang out with, and were very good at their jobs.  For whatever reason, they just liked to be flies on the wall at meetings or post-work bashes.

We can criticize Chef Ramsay for his rude, overbearing manner, but this season, as in the past, the quiet ones with a lot of talent managed to catch his eye.  Good lesson for us all!