Six years into knowing Emma, we both did our IT together in a firm as juniors, sitting in one of the studios while our senior partners presented a church auditorium concept to a new client. It was my concept, something I came up with, sketched over a few weeks during my free time, that has now turned simply into “what our design team has been developing.”
As a junior architect, I was just looking; I didn't say a word between partners talking. There must not be any correction mid-presentation, not when you still want to be in the firm.
Emma did. He was this very outspoken, bold type. Without raising his voice, he spoke softly and interrupted the partner presenting mid sentence by saying that the concept had actually started as personal research done outside any brief and that the person who made the sketch and the design should be the one doing the presentation for the client, especially when the client asked some very detailed questions about the project. Saying that, everyone in the room got the message, and they already understood what he was trying to say.
There was a cold moment in the room for a brief second, and the partners recovered in a very smooth way, acknowledged me, and gave me my deserved credit properly throughout the rest of the presentation. As usual, Emma doesn't really send anyone; he says what is right and on his mind, and he never brought up the discussion after the meeting before he wasn't expecting a thank you from me, but I did after.
The following week, during our weekend hangout, I asked him politely why he did what he did the other day by risking and correcting a top partner even when the client was present. His response was as calm as his voice; he said, "Dave that thing that I do, the room will not even remember it by the next morning, but you would have carried the theft for a long time."
As short as that statement seems, it carried a lot of weight; it made me change how I measure people now. Not by their actions when standing by me, which cost nothing, but by what they are prepared to do, most especially when they are in a condition that staying silent was clearly the safest, smartest choice.
Emma made a very hard decision, and till today, he didn't feel like it was a big deal.
Thank you for reading.
Images created by Gemini AI
