Wrong people in the wrong places:
What do we really mean?
Square pegs in round holes is
Often used to describe this scene.
Wrong people and wrong places
Do you see what I am getting at?
Everything is wrong here
And nothing can change this fact.
Are wrong people right for anything?
Where do they fit if they are wrong?
Can a place be found for them?
Or is a misfit only where they are strong?
Can a right place be found?
Can a wrong person be in a right place?
Wrong people in the right places
Even that doesn’t sound in good taste.
Wrong people in the wrong places,
This cliché is so often abused
That the dunce as well as the educated
Feels quite smug in propagating its misuse.
It just doesn’t make any sense
O dear simpleton, can’t you see?
All right! I
can see the wrong person
But where O where can that wrong place be?
Let us study a scenario for just a minute,
Someone is put a particular position
But he or she doesn’t do well
Even though with high recommendation.
Perhaps he or she is wrong for the position
But tell me what’s wrong with the place?
Does that wrong person make the place wrong too?
No sense in that; not even a trace.
Was that position seriously needed?
Or was it just politically expedited?
If the place was needed it can’t be wrong,
I hope on this we are all united.
Wrong people in the wrong places
That just does not make any sense
So throw out the over worked cliché
For all who use it there is no defense.
Square pegs in wrong holes?
I may be willing to accept
But wrong people in wrong places
I most definitely reject.
It’s a misnomer if ever there was one
And I guess you
know what that means,
It means a way of saying nothing
It’s better that we decide to come clean.
The place is right but the man is not
And there is someone to fill the spot
Hence the right man for the right place
That’s the way to improve the lot.
The right people in the right places
It’s for that we need to aim
And when we do I am sure we will find
Wrong people in wrong places are not to blame.
For it can never happen, that cliché of sorts
When things never seem to go right
Wrong people in the wrong places - not at all
It’s the wrong man that causes the blight.
So look again; consider what you say,
Contemplate it from head to toe,
This saying, perhaps centuries old
Doesn’t make sense; I hope you can see this is so.
Wrong people in the right places
Now who is to blame?
I leave that for the political experts,
They are best at playing the blame game.
Square pegs in round holes?
Now I can give that a thought
For I know at least one situation
In which square pegs were sought.
Remember the old board and easel
And when round pegs could not be found?
A pair of improvised square pegs worked,
They certainly were not round.
Square pegs work depending on the job
Though with not an exact fit,
The board was kept aloft as though with round pegs
And that chalkboard did not even slip.
Not so in the world of work
In which sound leadership is required,
When such mistakes occur as they often do
The misfits should be removed or be fired.
Wrong people in the wrong places
No! Such as I
have shown is impossible
But the reality is what the reality is:
Right places but filled with wrong people.
Stewart Russell © September 2017
