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 LEGO Company / LEGO Direct / 1919
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Subject: 
Re: NDAs
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.lego.direct
Date: 
Mon, 12 Feb 2001 22:19:56 GMT
Viewed: 
658 times
  
In lugnet.lego.direct, Tim Courtney writes:
"Lorbaat" <eric@nospam.thirteen.net> wrote in message
news:G8nxyB.FC4@lugnet.com...

A priviledge, yes.  A gift?  No.

LEGO got just as much, if not more, out of the meeting than you did.

And that's OK.

I didn't say it wasn't.

It's important to remember that LEGO is a company.  LEGO is not your friend,
it's not your enemy, it's not Santa's workshop.  They don't do things out of
the goodness of their hearts- nor should they be expected to do so.

True for the company - but my experience with the individuals in the company
is
that they are good people and they do do things out of the goodness of their
hearts.  They're subject to the greater agenda of the company because they
work
for them, but that doesn't discredit the individuals.

I didn't say anything about the individuals in question.  I have no opinion of
any of the individuals in question, never having met any of them.

Even if I were to meet them, though, it would be important to remember that I
was meeting them in their role as a representative of LEGO Direct (unless, of
course, I met them at a non-LEGO party or something- weirder things have
happened).

In a way, you *aren't* meeting the people.  You're meeting units of the
company.

Part of my job involves directly interfacing with other companies that my
company does business with.  It is part of my job to have a relationship with
my counterparts at these other companies.  I might like them, I might laugh
with them on the phone or go to dinner or lunch with them, they might take me
out to Oktoberfest in a Munich biergaarten and drink stein after stein of beer
with me- but they are always representatives of that company, and while I might
like them and they might like me, when their company fails to live up to the
expectations of my company, it's part of my job to tell them so as a part of
the entity that is my company.  It is their job as a unit of the entity that is
their company to listen and address those issues.  And vice-versa.

What I'm getting at is that you might like the person, they might buy you
those beers, they might seem to be doing something out of the goodness of their
heart, but they are acting as a representative of their company.  The company
is neither good nor bad, it's an entity that exists outside of those concerns.
It is neither friend nor enemy.  It exists for a single purpose- to create
something that you want to spend your money on.

Part of having you out there and treating you nicely was the company getting
information on how to do that out of you.

You're interacting with these people on two levels- the personal "this guy has
a similar sense of humour and is a really nice guy who didn't take the last
blueberry muffin" level, and then the company one.  But make no mistake about
which takes precedence.

All of this is neither a good thing or a bad thing on a personal level.  A very
good thing (IMHO) on a business level.

I think you're mistaking my trying to point out that this was not a "gift"
for
meaning that I somehow think the whole thing was flawed.

Ok.  I was mistakening that at first too, and I'm glad you clarified.

I hope it's clearer now.

Though the NDA for TLC is kinda an issue of hindsight, as they trust us we
trust
them - them that is the employees who we met with.

Yes.  But they trust you enough to have you sign an NDA.

Once again, the NDA thing was a bit of a joke.  I don't see any way that the
LDraw community could reasonably write an NDA worth making anyone sign, given
it's structure.  But it's something to think about.

And, just to be clear, I do not think that LEGO asking participants to sign an
NDA is a bad thing.  Nor do I think it's a good thing.  I think it's a neutral
business thing.

I'll be posting less on the subject,

As any reasonable person would, given the restrictions of NDA.  There's only so
much you can say before you're just talking to hear yourself talk.

eric



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: NDAs
 
(...) A priviledge, yes. A gift? No. LEGO got just as much, if not more, out of the meeting than you did. It's important to remember that LEGO is a company. LEGO is not your friend, it's not your enemy, it's not Santa's workshop. They don't do (...) (23 years ago, 12-Feb-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)

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