(I'm going to edit this post after a few days' time because anybody from my company who reads it will know who I'm referring to. lol.)
He is from another dept. He is one of the management staff and I initially didn't really like him. However, as I have gotten to interact with him more, I began to discover his admirable qualities and I wish that I have them.
Just a short description of how I have perceived him:
He has a Type A personality and always on the ball with everything around him, checking out how are things going at the moment. He likes things to be fast and gets impatient when things don't go the way he wants. He talks in a hurried manner as well and jumps when there is a slight mistake. He is someone who likes to see results. He doesn't like to wait because a lot of things can possibly happen. In doing anything, he always talks about damage control rather than improving on something. He also picks on me when I am not logical or consistent.
He seems like an extravert and likes to talk alot as well. Whenever I sit in with him during an interview, he complains to my colleague that I don't speak much. He is so work-oriented that he even calls up my colleague to at night about 1-2 times a week to talk about work-related matters. He tends to focus on the mistakes we have made rather than talk about the good things we have done. After a while, he will steer his conversation to something unrelated to work eg. family, career goals etc. Once he starts talking, he can't stop.
He's a survivalist who knows how to steer his sail with the wind. He is very intelligent and capable. However, he is a "reluctant manager" i.e. doesn't really like managing people. However, he pays attention to every staff and is willing to fight for their pay rise if he thinks that they have special skills.
He became nicer to me when I invited him for dinner on a Friday evening with two of my colleagues. Even though he seems hard on us sometimes, I like him as a person and thought that I will show my appreciation through this gesture. Apparently, my two other colleagues mentioned that they will never invite him for dinner if not for me. lol. He was very appreciative of my gesture and thought that I am a "nice girl". The dinner was some sort of a turning point and he spent about 1.5 hours talking to my colleague saying all the good things we have done. lol. The next time I make mistakes in my work, he became more tolerant of me. I guess he began to realize that I'm someone who takes my work seriously and I never shirk my responsibilities. I felt motivated to work harder because of his belief in me.
Since he is a management staff, I was very careful in not letting people know that I have invited him for dinner because I don't want them to think that I'm curry-favoring him. Anyway, he once told me and my colleagues that no one is special. People might seem unique on the surface but at the end of the day we are all the same. He also mentioned that he believes that everyone should have a choice and not make decisions too hastily. Even though he is someone who makes decision fast, he believes that everyone should be entitled to many choices in life so that he/she will know what he/she really wants in life and make the right choice.
This colleague of mine is someone I look up to. Whenever I make mistakes infront of him, I feel more conscious than when I made them infront of others because I want to create a good impression.