get anyone from the admissions department to tell them why he’d been
rejected. Their idea was to find out why the student had been rejected
and fix the problem.
“Given they had been unable to get any information, he was writing to
me in the hope that I’d arrange for someone to break into the admissions
department to find and photocopy the student’s records. Can you imagine?”
Kya went on to explain that she’d considered ignoring the fax but
decided she had to respond. “You never know where letters like that
will end up ten years later,” she said. “So I felt I needed to do something.
But I didn’t know what.
“Given that I wanted to say no, I knew I should consider the four organizational
structures that specifically deal with delivering bad news.
“It seemed obvious that I didn’t want to say anything positive, so
the Bookend No wouldn’t work. I can tell you that I didn’t feel like saying
‘Thanks so much for thinking of me.’ The No with an Alternative
wouldn’t work either. What was I going to say? Go see Big Eddy on the
corner? The Diplomatic No wouldn’t help; I didn’t want to preserve the
relationship. Given that I’d decided I couldn’t just do nothing, I felt I had
no choice—I had to be direct.
“I ended up sending him a two-line response. I told him that I was
stunned and appalled that he would suggest such a thing. No, I wouldn’t
break into the university admissions department.”
Note that Kya used the organizational structures as a checklist. By
methodically thinking how each one would sound, her choice became
straightforward and easy to make.
“I’m pleased to report,” Kya added, “that I never heard from him again.”