It seems to me that any organisation is only as good as its managers.  The organisation may have the best possible “front line” employees but will still be affected if it does not have efficient, effective and ethical local managers.

Firstly, one of the quickest ways to harm a business is for its owners or managers to involve themselves in any sort of nastiness towards others. Some clients and business partners tend not to like this type of behaviour and the damage caused to a commercial enterprise can be very difficult to overcome. I know of at least two small businesses which failed for this reason.

A person who has made several attempts at causing me very serious harm was driven past my house recently so now knows exactly where I live. I believe that prior to this she had been heard openly stating that she (still) wants to cause me very serious harm. I have seen the two people who were with her that day outside my house previously and believe they have so far received at least two visits from the authorities.

I moved over 160 miles to get away from a dangerous, very nasty set of circumstances, only for it to be brought to my door. It is likely that further attempts to cause me serious harm could be made by the person this couple were with. They have also repeated what she has been saying about me. Additionally, even though they know that she said she wanted to cause me very serious harm, they were still willing to show her where I live. I believe this means that they would have to bear part of the responsibility for any harm which may be caused to me.

There is also the risk of legal action for harassment and defamation which could of course lead to bad publicity.

Let’s hope that this couple’s wish to involve themselves in a situation relating to someone they do not know without first checking the facts does not put at risk the jobs of decent people who simply want to earn a living. 

Secondly, I have written on several occasions about some “anomalies” in public services in my former home town.

Recently, I was very disappointed to learn that one public service denies any involvement in my situation. I can think of instances where I know for sure that this organisation was involved.

The most likely reason I can think of for this denial is that one or more local managers were playing for time. If matters proceeded along the usual channels there would inevitably have been a time delay. This would give them the opportunity to find other jobs before any decision is made to rationalise services. (There were some “shortcuts” in the conduct of my situation.) 

If I am right, I do hope that the people concerned are taking as much care in protecting the positions of front line employees as their own.

Unfortunately, these are two sets of circumstances where the actions of just a few people could create the risk of long term consequences for a number of others.