On Irreplaceable People

There is a saying that no one is irreplaceable. There must be grain of truth in it, for the world keeps spinning and life goes on despite all the farewells and changes. Yet I daresay that there are people around me without whom I cannot imagine existing. I’m certain that without them my life, both professional and private, would be absolutely different, or, to put it bluntly – worse.
I could name at least several people who have become irreplaceable for me for various reasons and in different areas.

So who are they, and what sets them apart?

I admire those who have their own opinions and know how to support them with arguments. That not only proves their ability to think independently but also manifests their courage. Few today have the guts to speak uncomfortable truths straight to the face. This is by no means an easy feat, and especially in the boss–employee relationship.
Such an exchange may seem awkward, yet those are truly the most valuable people. The best friend is not the one who agrees with everything you say but the one who tells you the truth. However hard that may be to hear.

Irreplaceable people share certain values. They guide them in their lives and instil their lives with purpose. Loyalty, truthfulness, and the ability to engage in genuine discussion. Hardly anything, and yet plenty.
“That’s not the way to go” is what you often hear in the heat of discussion in a relationship built on trust, truth, and honesty. A boss needs to be strong-willed, but also to know how to listen to the opinions of people working for him. With time, I too learnt to listen and understood that I am not always right.
Moreover, I noticed that, with most people, micromanagement results in abandoning creativity. After all, it is the boss who has all the ideas, and we are just rank-and-file workers, mere contractors. Toiling away in the vineyard. No true success can be achieved unless people engage in the process of building things together.

Time has a way of calling one’s bluff and revealing the truth. It is time that grants us certainty over who really has stood and is still standing at our side, and in whose career or strategies we were merely a useful stepping stone. Is thirty-five years a long time? I believe it is enough to get to know someone. And for that someone to get to know you. With all your virtues and flaws.

Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to share an example that I personally find highly important and a perfect illustration of my point here. An example of symbolic significance. An excellent representation of irreplaceable people. Not only in this or that aspect of life but also in the whole of it.
Hardly any people equipped with a set of exceptional and rare qualities are eager to step into the spotlight. This is also true about the person I want to tell you about. She is exceptionally modest and would quite likely not welcome my scrutiny. Nonetheless, I shall take the liberty of sharing with you a few thoughts about her. We all too often forget about people standing close to us, important figures, as we become accustomed to their goodness, disinterestedness, and all the forms of care we receive. We simply take for granted that this is the way things should be, and treat their attitude as something natural. We grow accustomed to it.

Grażyna joined the company at twenty-one, three and a half decades ago.

She has witnessed and participated in so many pivotal twists in my life that she knows me inside out. It is she who handles a plethora of the most diverse tasks, yet above all she simply protects me, anticipating some things, preventing others, and pigeonholing them all into their proper places, she arranges reality with absolute mastery. She is the good spirit of all my endeavours.

She can do anything. An extraordinary and unique versality. Anyone who considers these accolades to be an exaggerated paean is mistaken. I dislike paeans as much as I despise exaggeration.
Still, I am not alone in that view. I am yet to meet anyone with a bad word to say about Grażyna. Say? I don’t think anyone has ever had so much as bad thoughts about her!
She often has to deny requests and deliver messages that her interlocutors find unwelcome. Yet she does it with such tact, such delicacy, and such grace that everyone appreciates her. A skill so rare, and therefore irreplaceable.

People who share responsibility for the risk that a company takes are often far from the limelight. They stand in the wings, in the background. I am incredibly fortunate to work with people who have not let me down for several decades. I find it an honour. This is also the foundation for success and making dreams come true. I wouldn’t be able to carry out my plans without people. Indeed, people are the foundation of those often ambitious visions.

In the north of Kraków, not far away from my headquarters, is Grażyna Street. Check for yourself if you don’t believe me. It would be hard to find a more fitting symbol. I absolutely take no credit for that, but whenever I see a sign with the name, I smile and feel pride mingled with deep gratitude.