You apply for a job and you are hired. Influential friends of the other finalist are furious with the decision and immediately accuse you of being a plant of your company’s competitor. You are innocent of the charges but your enemies are able to persuade others to start an investigation on your recent activities.

Your job is to recommend and implement plans to abolish unnecessary, bureaucratic paperwork, to improve profitability, which in turn will have the effect of being able to hire an unprecedented number of minorities, including recently released individuals who have served long prison sentences for minor infractions. You want to meet with your business partners and negotiate fairer business practices that will benefit the environment for all companies.

One of your company’s competitors has been a threat for generations; your predecessors have always succumbed to extortion. Your strategy is to sit down and negotiate an honest and fair deal. You have many other good ideas but when you hear of plans to undercut your position you utter, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my career. I’m fried.”

You know the charges against you are fabricated and you’re frustrated that you will be unable to implement the changes that your predecessor was not equipped or capable of achieving. Would you defend yourself, ask those around you to try and stop this charade of an inquiry so you can continue working?

Instead, the inquiry goes on for two-and-a-half years and eventually concludes that you’re not a spy for your company’s competitor. In spite of all the negative press and false accusations over the nearly three years, you are able to achieve great results for your company. Do you think your enemies should stop undermining your position, get on board and cease attacking you?