my job

Today I made a purchase decision which probably, at least for me, marked an important realization in the career I chose. I realize, in so many ways, that growing wiser means I have to learn to accept that decisions we make may not always be easy, much less have no consequence. Especially in my line of work, I have to learn to accept that sometimes, decisions I make hurt others, but nevertheless, I have to be tough and learn to realize that for all it's worth, I was really fair.

Ok. Case in point. I will use only symbols so as not to preempt any news or to identify any person.
I have this project I'm assigned to, where I have to negotiate for the company's purchase of a certain item X that will be part of a big promotional campaign. I have two suppliers, A & B, who are both reliable ones, that were actively fighting for that project. Even though, A has been the one directly coordinating with the users of this item, Supplier B was equally interested because they have not had any big projects lately. When I got the quotations for Supplier A & B, Supplier B was the definite winner... However, I couldn't just award to Supplier B because I had to consider on what stage of development the project was, and that at the same time, I had to be sure that they were both on the same page as far as specifications are concerned. This bugged me for a few days, and to cut the long story short, I decided to give the project to Supplier A, since I was more confident about their ability to implement the project. It was a hard decision to make, and what makes it ever harder is telling Supplier B that they didn't get the project. I texted Supplier B this evening and told her the news (that they weren't awarded the project) and she never texted back. I'm hoping she didn't take it personally, because this was after all, a professional decision.

In a lot of ways I think its a good preview of what lies ahead should I pursue my managerial career, that I have to learn to realize that it can't be a bed of roses all the time....

Just my thoughts....