The attitude of the martyr pops up frequently in the business environment.  The person on a white horse who riding in at the last possible second to save the day.  All would be lost without them.

May favorite example of the martyr was years ago when I got called in the middle of the night.  We had worked on this issue until we came to a point of rebooting the server.  I jumped off the call, threw on clothes, and headed into the office.  On my way, I called the guy I had been working with to get a quick status.  When I made it to the office, someone there was on the phone with the gentleman I had been talking too.  I stated “We have an issue with server XYZ, and I have been working on it with Bob.”  I was immediately informed the person knew about it, and they had been working on it for 2 hours with Bob.  I responded that was funny, since I spoke with Bob 20 minutes ago on my drive in.  For two weeks, I had to hear how he saved the day due to getting involved.

We do not have to be important.  We just have to do best job we can.  We all have had to deal with the disconnected people who get involved at the last moment and tell you that everything is wrong.  Great!  Most of the time they have no idea what the client’s demands were throughout the process and convolutes the project.

Goes along with the story of the gentleman asking Jesus how to serve God better.  Be the best we can be at our given profession and not heeding the martyrs who must come in and “save the day” and explain all the reasons why you messed up the job without them.