Last weekend, I had a severe reaction to a medication prescribed for me by a doctor.

I was nervous about taking this drug, because I’d not tolerated it well in the past—which I told the prescribing physician. But he poo-poo’ed my objection and told me this would be the best way to treat my condition (which was not serious or life-threatening).

Four pills into a 15 pill regimen, I realized this medication was making me really sick. I called my primary care provider who said stop taking this immediately, and check for the following possible side effects—one of which I had. Furthermore, we discovered that the doctor who had prescribed this had given me a very high dose of the drug—something my PCP told me is very rarely given for the condition for which I was being treated.

The story ends well, because once I stopped taking this, within a few days it cleared my system and a week later, I feel just about normal. But this could have turned out quite differently, had I not trusted myself enough to push back and say something is terribly wrong.

Of course, it didn’t have to happen at all if the offending physician had listened to what his patient was telling him.

Unfortunately, too often those in charge don’t listen to what the people close to the situation are trying to say. It might be a medical situation or a general safety issue. It might involve customer input. or someone trying to provide valuable insights to prevent or mitigate a dangerous situation.

For the last year or so, the country has been preoccupied with the Epstein files—emails and memos to/from convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and many famous and influential people. There may be as many as 1000 sex trafficking victims of Epstein, many of which were underage girls. For years, these women tried to tell people what was going on, but they were ignored.

The Epstein case is not unique in this regard. Forty years ago, employees at Morton-Thiokol tried to warn management that there might be a problem with the O-rings on the space shuttle. They were ignored and the shuttle blew up.

In October 2023 in Israel, the IDF soldiers tasked with watching the border with Gaza noticed something was wrong. The warnings of these women were ignored, and the result was a massacre of over 1200 people, hundreds more people taken hostages, and a long, deadly war with Hamas in Gaza.

Not every piece of data is of equal worth. But when people close to the situation tell you something is wrong, you ignore their input at your peril.

So when someone tries to tell you something, listen up. You can’t afford to do anything else.

Let us help your business rise to the top.

linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com