Yesterday started off as most Mondays - on a high from a great weekend, though tired and a bit remiss about having to head back to work. Unlike most Mondays, at about 10:30 a.m. we were all called together and told that our editor hadn't been heard from since Friday night. His newspapers lay uncollected on his doorstep and his voicemail box was full. He wasn't at any of the area hospitals and a few of our co-workers were on their way to his apartment with the police. In the back of our minds, we all hoped that he had decided to jump on a plane and run off to some fantastically exotic locale for an impromptu vacation (it wouldn't have been unheard of for him to do that sort of thing). For some reason, I had a sinking feeling that they would find him in his apartment and it would just be too late. And it turned out that it was.
Man Boss brought us together again - full of emotion - fear, surprise, shock, uncertainty and broke the news. The only sound was a collective gasp and spontaneous tears. It really was one of the more horrible moments of my life. He was only 38.
Our chairman jumped on a plane and headed up from Charlotte, Dominos was ordered in for lunch, tissues were handed out. We grieved. We stared at our computer screens - unsure of what to do. What are you supposed to do when one of the leaders of your organization dies quite suddenly and with no explanation? What do you do when there is a paper that has to go to press on Thursday but the tasks necessary to produce it seem so trivial considering that one of your colleagues has just died?
There is no right answer. There is no proper course of action. The irony is that one of our reporters wrote a column awhile back about employee death and how to cope with it as an organization. Little did we know that we would have to put her writing to the test.
It's 24 hours later. We're all back at work for another day. Our clients, sources, fellow businesspeople and colleagues from other markets are slowly hearing the news. We must field their calls, explain what we know, share in their shock and sadness - over and over and over again. It's going to be a rough time here for quite awhile.
I am thinking of you and making sure that if you want it, a good time can be had :-)
Posted by: Ben | January 09, 2007 at 11:36 AM