The Dwarfs of CIY

At a recent leadership retreat it was revealed that CIY has been benefiting from some employees that are not on the payroll. This came as something of a shock. As we dialogged the situation it was determined that there are actually several non-salaried, but very valuable members of our staff.

Here is the run-down on these "special" friends:

- Banter - This was the first to be identified, he cannot be kept out of any CIY meeting, despite our best efforts.
- Conflict - Conflict likes to tag along with Banter and Pushback, but we're doing our best to minimize his efforts.
- Inappropriate - Lives under Eric Epperson's desk, but manages to be present at every meeting.
- Filter - Is assigned to be everywhere that his brother Inappropriate is and keep him from speaking, but occasionally fails at both tasks.
- Push-back - We're not really sure what to do with this guy, because everyone on the staff is so congenial and we can't stand to air differences of opinion. And if you believe that you need to meet my friend Sarcasm.
- Camp-out - Jayson French introduced this one to CIY. When Camp-out gets called into a meeting you know it's going to take a while.
- Unpack - Unpack tends to travel with Camp-out and is called upon when a meeting isn't designed for discussion, but just the relaying of information in one direction.
- Sarcasm - Sarcasm is the mother of all the dwarfs. Without her, they would lose their power. Occasionally Sarcasm and Inappropriate get in the same room - that never works out well.
- Metaphor & Analogy - The twins, Metaphor and Analogy, are inseparable because we frankly can't keep them straight and tend to call one the other. Rumor has it that these two actually live inside Chris Jefferson. I cannot confirm or deny this information.

The leadership retreat was great, several important things happened. Time will tell where the identification of our dwarfs will rank among the outcomes of this retreat.