King Henry II And Understanding Your Employer

Under King Henry II In The Twelfth Century…

England established a common law. This was a

body of law that was common to all parts of the country. 
Throughout Europe at the time, there was a wide body of
law that was applied—there were feudal customs,
Germanic customs and other differing customs.  For
example, French King Louis IX was well known for having
allowed each province of France to have its own laws and
procedures after becoming part of France.  He created a
Parliament of Paris to hear appeals from the feudal lords
around France.
Each Year, King Henry Sent Out Circuit Judges…

To hear various civil and criminal

cases.  One of the more interesting sorts of trials
that developed during the time was in criminal
law.  If a person was accused of a crime and there
was no specific accuser, witnesses, or written
evidence, and the judges believed the person had
a bad reputation, they held a “trial by ordeal”. 
Under This Sort Of Trial…

A person was bound by their hands

and feet and dropped into a body of
water, such as a river or a lake. 
Water was believed to be something
that was pure and would reject any
foul or unclean substance. 
Accordingly, it was believed that the
innocent person would sink, and the
guilty person would float.   God was
believed to determine guilt or
innocence and not people.
Because This Procedure Was Something That The King
Believed…
Often resulted in people who
seemed to be guilty beating the
system and not being punished,
King Henry did not like the system. 
In the thirteenth century, a trial by
jury of 12 people was eventually
developed.  Here, many people were
initially suspicious since people, and
not God, were determining guilt and
innocence.  Eventually, the idea of a
trial by jury was something that was
accepted by people and became
part of how things were done in the
Western World.  We have come to
appreciate and believe that the
most important thing for the
accused, and in disputes between
two parties, is that they be
When I Got Out Of Law School, My First Job Was…

For a judge inside a federal court.  There is a process

that happens when cases come into any court, and the
process is very similar in every court across the United
States.  In fact, in one form or another, this same
process has been followed in courts in England, the
United States and other common law courts–a law
common to and accepted by the entire country– for
hundreds of years.  This entire process is set up so the
court and/or the jury can eventually understand what is
going on in a dispute between two parties. 
It is amazing the work that
goes into understanding
disputes. 
I Think The Process Has Developed The Way It Has Because…

We believe that it is exceptionally

important to understand where two
parties are coming from before
passing any sort of judgment.  It is a
foundation of our justice system that
two sides need to be understood as
well as possible before we can make
any judgment one way or another:
 The Process

1)
Someone typically files a complaint
of some sort with the court about
something they are upset about.  It
could be a contract dispute or the
violations of a copyright statute,
for example.  In other cases, a
prosecutor may charge someone
with a crime in the court.  In many
cases, the parties will file various
motions regarding the complaint
and whether or not it is even valid.
2)
Following the filing of a complaint, and
assuming the complaint makes it through
this stage, a period called ”discovery”
typically ensues.  Here, both sides will seek
to understand the information (people,
documents, etc.) that the other side has to
prove the validity of what they are seeking
to prove in the complaint.  The sides will
exchange documents, question each others’
witnesses and more.  During this entire
process, the Judge will typically moderate
everything.  This process may involve the
parties coming before the judge to argue
the validity of various forms of information
they are seeking.
3)
Following discovery, one or
more of the parties will
generally ask the court to
throw out the case after filing
what are called motions for
summary judgment.  If the
case is scheduled for trial,
they may file what are called
motions in limine to throw out
various causes of action.
4)
A case will go to
5)
trial after all of Following a
these aspects of verdict in the
the case have case, the case
been may be
adjudicated. appealed.

End
This Is Essentially, In A Nutshell…

What goes on in most cases that go to court. This is

something that costs companies,  individuals and others
an incredible amount of money to consistently go through
and manage.  When you step back and look at this what is
happening is pretty simple. 

Essentially, two
sides are seeking to
be understood and
have a decision
made about a
particular
misunderstanding.
 •A company may believe a
contract means one thing and
not another.

•An individual may believe

that someone has wronged
them and wants justice.

•Two people have a different

interpretation of one event
than one another.
We Are Appalled When Judgments Are Passed On People And…

Individuals without due process

and taking the time to
understand them.  For example, I
recently saw the movie
Changeling with Angelina Jolie. 
This is about a mother who is
wrongly thrown in a psychiatric
institution without due process. 

The movie Rambo is about a

man who is wrongly imprisoned
and then escapes without due
process.  I watched 60 Minutes
last night and the biggest story
was about improper witness
identifications, and one being
wrongly thrown into prison due
to a mistaken identification. 
I Read The New York Times This Morning And A Lead Story…

On the cover was about

people being wrongly
imprisoned in China
without due process.  Our
culture is obsessed with
people being understood
before judgments are
made about them.  We
want to ensure that
everyone is understood,
and the right thing
happens.  This is
something that is part of
the fabric of our society,
who we are, and what we
believe.
When I Got Out Of Law School…

I started practicing law with law firms.  What I

noticed is that most of the disputes that companies and
individuals spend millions of dollars in legal fees on could be
taken care of by the two sides sitting down over a cup of
coffee and discussing the issues and being willing to
understand the other side.  In almost every case that I saw,
the lawyers actually get in the way of the two sides working
things out. 
The Lawyers Do Not Want People To…

Communicate and understand each

other because, if this happens, then the
lawyers will have nothing to do. 
Accordingly, the lawyers go back and
forth with motions and arguments for
months until the client eventually
decides it is not worth paying for and
settles, or until the case goes to trial. 

Most disputes can be settled quite

easily.
The Reason I Know Most Disputes Can Be Settled Quite Easily
Is…

because I saw it in action.  When

I worked for the Judge, he would generally
put the two sides in separate rooms right
before the case was about to go to trial,
and discuss the matter with each of them
individually.  He would try to get each side
to see the other’s point of view.  In almost
every single instance, he managed to
settle the conflict right there, and the case
never went to trial. 
I Often Wondered Why This Particular Thing Never Occurred…

Before the case was so close to trial. 

In more complex cases that involved
multiple plaintiffs and defendants, he
would bring in to what was called a
“Settlement Master”.  These were
typically portly men in their early 60s
who looked like they had just had a
good steak dinner with friends.  They
were friendly men who were all
smiles and everyone liked them. 
They would always settle cases.  They
would just get people to understand
one another. 

This is an incredible skill.

 This Brings Me To You

I think a lot of the current economic crisis this

country is going through could be solved if people
learned to understand one another better.  When
it comes to our jobs and what we feel we believe,
however, we are more likely to dig our heels in
and not understand the other person’s point of
view–or our employer’s point of view.
Lately, I Have Seen A Lot Of Businesses Closing Around My
Neighborhood

This is due to the economic downturn, of

course, but businesses are always closing
in all parts of the country at all points in
time.  The reasons businesses close is often
due to the people within them just not
being able to understand the point of view
of the employer.  Usually, these businesses
are closing for reasons which are pretty
stupid and generally unnecessary.  This is
upsetting to me.  I want to see people
working around me and businesses
becoming successful.  Whenever I can, I try
and step in and see if there is anything I
can do.
I Am Not An Expert In Saving Businesses By Any Stretch Of The
Imagination

However, something I have seen time and time

again is that virtually any business can be saved and
does not have to fail.  Literally any business can work
and survive if the right actions are taken.  Businesses
do not need to fail and jobs can be saved quite easily.
There Is A Business Up the Road From Me That Just Went Out Of
Business

It did not take me long to figure

out what was wrong with the
business-the employees were
being paid too much.  This was
a good business, with good
people, providing a good
service. The business also has a
tremendous upside.  It is a
small business that does about
$1,000,000 a year in revenue. 
The problem is that the salaries
of the people working there are
more than $1,000,000 a year. 
The Business Was Paying Virtually Everyone Working…

In the business far
more than it needed to
pay them.   The company
was paying full-time people
$70,000/year to do many of
these jobs. The business had
other jobs that in many
companies would pay $30,000
a year for.  However, this
business was paying $60,000 a
year for the same type of work.
The more I looked at things the
more disturbed I became.
I Called The Owner Of The Business And Looked At The Books
  The business was doing $1,000,000 a
year and had plenty of revenue coming
in.

“All you need to do in order to run the business is

pay people market rates, instead of paying more
than they are worth in the open market,” I told the
owner.  “You also have a bunch of part-time jobs
that you are paying people to do full-time. 
Eliminate all of this overhead and your business will
be fine.”
The Employees Of This Particular Company Did Not Want To Be
Paid Market Rates

They wanted to be paid “what

they were worth,” and now they
do not have jobs. 

The company is out of business.  The

employees had no solution to fix the
problem, because they were the problem. 
Now the company is completely out of
business.  Most of the people from the
company are not working and are collecting
unemployment.
The employees blamed
the owner for not
bringing in enough
business.  They did not
want to listen to the
employer’s side of
things.
The owners blamed
the employees for
not being flexible
with their wages. 
They did not want to
listen to my
suggestions.
Here, If I Were The Owner Of This Company, I Would Have…

Cut all of the wages and explained to the employees

there was no way the business could survive unless this
was done.  There is nothing wrong with not being paid
two to three times what you are worth.  The employees
did not want to listen to this, however, and because of
this they are yet another casualty of the economic
downturn. 

A good business has failed.

All Over Businesses Are Failing And…

more often than not, many of these businesses do

not have to fail.  The problem is that people want things
to be a certain way and are afraid to listen to what needs
to be done to change this. Auto companies have too
many costs and need to eliminate costs.  Certain
businesses have too much space and need to eliminate
space.  Often, the easiest changes can have a massive
impact on fixing broken down companies.  In order for
this to occur, however, people need to be willing to
listen.
I Stepped In And Tried To Talk To The Employees About…

This situation even after the business

had been closed.  I felt I could still
rescue the business. None of them had
jobs.  Still, none of these employees
were flexible with their wages, even
after losing their jobs. 

They explained that “good

people need to be paid good
wages.”
One Of The Biggest Mistakes We Can Make Is…

failing to listen to another person’s

point of view.  Here, had the employees really
been able to listen to the concerns of the business
owner, the business would not have failed.  The failure
to listen to others is something that is almost at a crisis
point in many circles.  We assume we know what
people want and need.

•Governments do this with social programs.

•We do this when we speak to others

•We reach conclusions about people, places

and things without first getting all of the
information we need.
I See This In The Recruiting World All The Time

There are numerous recruiters

out there who take one look at
a candidate and assume they
know exactly what this person
does or does not need.  This is
something the least successful
recruiters do. The best
recruiters spend a great deal
of time getting to know the
people they are working with
and gathering information.  It
is only after gathering a great
deal of information that
most recruiters are even
remotely in a position to make
a recommendation about
someone’s career.
When I Look At Companies And People…

I see something that

repeats itself over and
over
People again. 
assume they know what someone else
needs or what they are entitled to.  People do this
without having any information whatsoever about
where the other person is coming from.  This
never works.
We Put A Great Deal Of Faith And Energy Into…

Ensuring that people are not falsely accused without

due process.  We require that people be
understood. 

The most important thing you can often

do to keep a job, get a job, and more is
take the time to listen and ensure you