Forgive and forget

At the aforementioned swap meet, a tall figure loomed above the crowd. It immediately registered that he was out of place. I saw him scanning the room and knew what he was looking for. Me.

I believe I blogged about Ellis before. We partnered on a deal and it did not go well. He had a small company that was faltering and I had some product ideas that were right for the moment and would fit into his model. I knew his reputation but the concepts were so hot, I couldn’t resist.

All the red flags were there. Ellis had a bad word to say about everyone and they were seldom true. He’d been thrown out of his country club and CEO roundtable, and was a pariah in his industry. But, I believed that the prospect of making millions with normal behavior would straighten him out. That is, I made the mistake of believing what I wanted to believe.

At first, he played his role well. He said and did what he was supposed to as I created strategic alliances that were required to bring this off. But, he couldn’t help himself after a while. As we approached the verge of launching, he reverted to form. It wasn’t enough to pocket an eight-figure windfall I brought him. He had to cheat all his partners out of part of their share. And, his malicious side drove him to use this as a club to avenge himself on all in the industry that he perceived had conspired against him. He created his own issues but reality had no seat in his world.

While people of his ilk think they’re covering their tracks by cloaking their malice, they’re looking at the world through a warped prism. To everyone else, they’re transparent. I saw what he was doing and knew that it wouldn’t be long before the others in our alliance did. I gave him an ultimatum. Either he bought me out or I bought him out.

As I expected, he would see this as an opportunity to create a win-lose situation and jumped on it. I allowed him to think he was shafting me in acquiring my share and would reap all the tremendous profits that I had poised us for. I knew there would be none to be had because he would find a way to screw it up as he did with about everything else. And, he did. I was happy to take the buyout, knowing that I wasn’t missing anything.

Not only did the product line get derailed by those he attacked or attempted to cheat, but he wound up in a multimillion dollar lawsuit with some global players. He lost. Being a loser, he had no other way to come out.

So what was he doing at the swap meet? He had heard I was organizing it and had wanted to reconnect. People like that always want to go where they’re not wanted. He told me that after the lawsuit, he got involved in another big deal which blew up in his face and he had learned his lesson and mended his ways. He thought that maybe would could get together and go sailing or something. Yeah, that’ll happen.

I bear him no ill will because he really can’t help himself. Ellis just isn’t wired right. I’m willing to forgive. But, I don’t forget. He’s not the only one who learned a lesson.