Hey Reader,

If you’re like me, you know how challenging it can be to disconnect from work…even while on vacation.

About four years ago, I was visiting my in-laws in Miami.

We were sitting at this beautiful restaurant on the water, and I had just ordered fish and chips.

Then I made a terrible decision.

I casually checked Slack.

Big mistake.

There was a message from someone on a client’s leadership team.

He was furious.

“Why is anything being spent on this card? I told you nothing should be spent on this.”

The problem?

No one had told me that.

I was working directly with their CFO, and this had never come up.

But that didn’t stop him.

He kept sending angry messages in a public Slack channel where his team and my team could both see them.

And this wasn’t just a normal workday.

I was on vacation.

On a holiday.

I remember sitting there thinking:

“I’ll never forgive this guy.”

It felt unfair. It felt aggressive. And honestly, it felt humiliating.

So I made myself a quiet promise.

One day, the tables would turn.

And when they did, I’d remember exactly how he made me feel.

A few years later, that day finally came.

The revenge I had imagined was sitting right in front of me.

But what happened next taught me something I’ll never forget about business, reputation, and the real cost of getting even.

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Three of my favorite movies are The Count of Monte Cristo (also a great book) and Kill Bill, Volumes I and II.

At first, they seem completely different.

One is about a man who is stripped away from his fiancée, framed for a crime he didn’t commit, and thrown into prison.

The other is about a woman nearly murdered at her own wedding, who somehow survives and hunts down everyone involved in the name of vengeance.

But at their core, they are telling the same story.

Sweet, sweet revenge.

And it’s hard not to love.

Because deep down, we all understand the fantasy.

Someone wrongs you.

They humiliate you.

They take something from you.

And one day, you finally get the chance to make them feel what you felt.

But real life rarely works that cleanly.

Most of the time, the opportunity never comes.

And when it does, revenge usually feels worse than we expected.

Because the fantasy is simple. But that’s just what it is…a fantasy.

The reality is messy.

As humans, we are wired to share what we feel.

When something good happens, we want to tell people.

Likewise, when someone hurts us, we want to tell people too.

And if we’re not careful, that instinct can transform into something darker.

A desire to make sure everyone knows what they did.

A desire to make them pay.

That’s why stories of vengeance have been around forever.

And a hundred years from now, people will still be telling them.

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If you haven’t felt wronged at work yet, I can almost promise you that one day you will.

There are too many opportunities for it to happen.

Maybe it’s a manager who rose through the ranks despite having no real ability to manage people.

Maybe it’s a colleague who undermines you in a meeting.

Maybe it’s a client who thinks paying you gives them permission to speak to you however they want.

Maybe it’s a partner or competitor who treats business like a zero-sum game where the only way to win is for you to lose.

And when it happens, the temptation to get even will be real.

But in those moments, you have to protect one of the most valuable assets you have:

Your reputation.

Because the second you stoop to their level, you give someone else a story to tell about you.

And the frustrating part is that you no longer have control over how that story unfolds.

One person whispers to another.

Then another.

And years later, your name comes up in a room you’re not in (and not in a good way).

That doesn’t mean you let people walk all over you.

Set boundaries.

Protect yourself.

Walk away when you need to.

But don’t let someone else’s bad behavior turn you into a version of yourself you wouldn’t respect.

Process the feeling.

Learn from it.

And make yourself one promise:

“I’ll never treat someone else that way.”

A few months ago, I got a LinkedIn message.

It was him.

The same guy from the Miami Slack incident.

He was at a new company now, and he was looking for advice.

I’m pretty sure he had completely forgotten our exchange.

But I definitely hadn’t.

At first, I thought:

“Now’s my chance.”

Maybe I should tell him exactly how rude he was.

Maybe I should remind him how he embarrassed me in front of both teams.

Or better yet, maybe I should take the call, lead him on, and then leave him hanging.

That would really make the point.

But the more I thought about it, the less satisfying it seemed.

What was I really hoping for?

An apology?

A moment of self-awareness?

Some grand realization that he should never treat someone that way again?

Maybe that would have happened.

But probably not.

More likely, I would have given him a reason to fire back.

And suddenly, the story would no longer be about what he did.

It would be about how I responded…and the toxic pattern I restarted.

So I did something much less dramatic.

I didn’t respond.

I’d love to tell you that it made me feel perfectly satisfied and complete.

It didn’t.

Part of me still fantasizes about him being put in his place.

Maybe he’s even reading this newsletter.

I guess I’ll never know.

But that’s the point.

I didn’t get the revenge I once imagined.

I got something better.

I kept my reputation intact.

Because while revenge may be a dish “best served cold”, I’d argue it’s best served not at all.

Now I’m curious about you.

Has someone ever wronged you in your career?

Did you want to get revenge?

How did you handle it?

Hit reply and let me know.

Have a great weekend.
​
Josh
Your CFO Guy