When you literally get hit in an institution where you’re a client.
Everything is filmed — and yet the institution flexes its muscles, deploying every means to clear its name.
When people still think “leadership” means power, like in the 1980s.
Small workplace scenes no one notices or questions.
And yet, that’s where everything shifts.
One day, in a major financial institution well-known here — where I’ve been a client since I arrived in Quebec — I was assaulted.
Not a verbal dispute, not a front-desk tension: a real act of abuse, in front of witnesses.
When I contacted management, through a formal letter of notice, they said:
— Don’t worry, we’re handling it.
I believed them. Everyone deserves a second chance.
Even if shaking people awake in 21st-century Quebec looks pretty bad.
But trust, sometimes, is an elegant trap.
I went back, and this time the same person hit me. Literally.
Luckily, everyone has an iPhone these days.
So I filmed everything. He had even warned me when I arrived:
You — I’ll get you.
Surprisingly, and against all odds, this big institution that prides itself on being caring toward its community chose not to take responsibility.
Instead of simply dismissing those who should’ve been dismissed, organizing a meeting with the client, settling things properly, and using the case as a learning moment for the whole institution — to make sure it never happens again —
they chose nostalgia for power, that “leadership” of another era.
So they handed it to one of the biggest law firms.
Not to repair, but to buy time. The classic Goliath-against-David move — still effective.
They’re probably paying a fortune to learn nothing.
I discovered how you bury a fault:
you don’t deny it — you move it.
You dissolve it in procedure,
try to make it disappear behind a keyword: internal process, legal step, missing form.
As if changing the order of the boxes could change the reality of the facts.
Five years later, nothing has changed. The trial is finally coming up.
Not one apology. Not one acknowledgment. On the contrary — the aggressor is still there, and the client is treated as the villain.
Just the perfect mechanics of corporate denial.
So I wrote to the top executive.
I thought: he’s new, maybe he’ll want clear governance, maybe he’ll see what his teams refuse to see.
The answer came quickly:
“We’ve forwarded your message to the appropriate department.”
And meanwhile, in their branches, their ads, their PowerPoints, their walls:
An ethics based on transparency, honesty, social responsibility, altruism.
And right below, this promise: to be the one people hold closest to their hearts.
Polite words covering dirty acts.
I look around and wonder:
How long can we keep repeating these slogans without hearing them?
How far can we go managing risk without ever owning responsibility?
Real leadership today isn’t about avoiding mistakes.
It’s about recognizing them, learning, correcting — before the whole world sees them for you.
Because in the age of networks, lying is always temporary.
Seedz / Silent Guest
Not a coach. Not a therapist.
A clear mirror — to see sharply, before choosing.
