Recently, I had an interesting conversationwith the editor of our facility newsletter. She was looking for short articles for the next edition, and I asked if she thought people would be interested in some tips for email organization. Simple stuff, like sorting your inbox by sender so you can take care of your boss’s communication first.

She thought it was a great idea, andI sent her a few tips. A few minutes later, she sent me back aquestion.

“Looks good to me, although do you think it will be odd for a Black Belt to be talking about minor administrative issues like these? We wouldn’t want to undermine your position/image.”

Well, I thought that it was very nice of her to care about my image, but, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at the question.

It did make me ask myself, what’sthe imageof Black Belt that she was concerned about? Thatwe only use Lean and Six Sigmafor big team-based problem-solving projects? I think it’s also perfectly appropriate to look for efficient ways to handle even minor administrative details!

As it turned out, she ran the articlecrediting me (which was perfectly ok as far as I’m concerned).

Have any of you run into image issues of this nature? It would be interesting if you would share your stories!