Many years ago my employer charged me with taking a small group of employees to another country for a training event. One night while on said training event, I got a phone call saying that one of the employees had physically struck another employee in the face. I then get up, get dressed, and go to the "scene of the crime" to get the full story of what happened. Given the narrative thus far, I'm sure it would shock no one to find that alcohol was a factor on both sides. The victim had been relaying a story regarding his mother to a third party, when the assailant told him to stop. The story, by all accounts was harmless, a childhood anecdote, and should not have elicited such a hash reaction. The victim did not see the demand as rational, and continued the conversation, resulting in the physical altercation. After talking with the individuals, the assailant had stated that his mother had passed away within the last year and he was still dealing with it and didn't care to hear about anyone else's mother at the moment. His current alcohol level had given him the impression that he was justified in his actions.

At this point, I was placed in a position of how to handle the situation. I've had a longstanding personal policy that everyone is entitled to the right of self-defense, however, it is NEVER acceptable to raise your hand in violence to another human being over spoken words. I asked the victim if he would like to involve the authorities, he declined. I very assertively gave the assailant instruction to go to bed and not leave it, with the promise that this was not over, and more would come the following day. The following day, he was very apologetic to the victim, at which point I gave him a heart-to-heart talk, some "extra" duties relative to our workload, and decided not to involve leadership.

Bryan Stevenson is quoted as saying "Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done" (Stevenson, 2015), which requires us to look at the individual as a whole and not just at the moment of the infraction. With this in mind, the assailant was by my estimation, a good person who showed a momentary lapse in judgment. He was/is a hard worker and a huge contributor to the success to our day-to-day success, which is why I chose not to pursue further action.

Nothing in this week's reading has changed my perspective on how I handle this situation, if anything it reaffirmed my actions were correct. Compliance with laws is not always an indication of a good leader (Gilbert, 2016). Had I chosen an alternate path, this person's career would have been severely affected, which wouldn't have been good for him or the company. This person went on to do great things, I stand by my decision, and will continue to approach situations like these in the same fashion.

Please provide feedback for this discussion post?