The worst document I never read
A planning application had been rejected, although it could have brought huge benefits to a community. The officers of the council were – rightly – convinced that this was a superb deal. We were then employed by the organisation whose application had been rejected.
We began to talk to the politicians, including one of those who had voted against. Gently, we made an attempt to discern his level of knowledge of the planning application – a complex document of some 150 pages. He was very forthright and said: ‘I have never read this application – I don’t need to. My telephone is telling me what is in it.’
‘What’, he was asked, ‘was the problem with the plans?’ He said it was a bad application, which had little merit and would ruin the community. He then listed three major flaws. If, we asked, these were fixed, what would his attitude be? ‘In that case,’ he said, ‘ I could support this application – but there is no chance of major changes like that.’
This politician was working on totally erroneous information. Almost all the demands he had – and certainly the major ones – were already met. However, he could not be made to face this reality – it would be too hurtful. However, other cosmetic changes were made, the ‘changes’ he had wanted were reincorporated and he was very happy. The new application was very similar to the original. Afterwards, he approached us a little shame-facedly and said: ‘Looking back at the original, it was not that bad after all. I am glad we got a second bite of the cherry.’
Analysis
Just because you have read a document does not mean that everyone else has – even though you might expect other people to have read it.
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