VM Recommends - Los Angeles Edition
This month’s VM Recommends brings us selections from Attorney Investigator, Kamon Naddaf.
What are your current book and podcast recommendations?
Do you think you would have sympathy for a woman who married her sister’s ex-husband after he abandoned her sister and their child? Could you forgive someone who did that to your sibling AND then marry them?
Well, I would have flat out said no. But Hello Beautiful does an exceptional job of putting the reader in everyone’s shoes, such that the reader has empathy for everyone. Ann Napolitano writes the chapters from different characters’ perspectives. While reading this novel, surprisingly, I had the most empathy for the man who left his wife and later married his ex-wife’s sister.
Seeing the world through different lenses reminds me of what it is like to be a neutral workplace investigator. Each investigative interview is an opportunity to view life from a new perspective. I have learned that nothing is black and white. The Complainant, the Respondent, and the witnesses may not see eye to eye on anything. Each of them may see the same fact-pattern unfold completely differently. It is the investigator’s responsibility not to assume one of them is an irresponsible husband or a disloyal sister. It is the investigator’s job to step into each of their worlds and better understand why they see things the way they do. Like Napolitano, and ultimately her readers, a workplace investigator must explore all sides of the story.
I plan on continuing to read novels every chance I get because it helps me build empathy, which I can then employ during my investigations. I highly recommend Hello Beautiful. It will teach you that no one is right and no one is wrong.
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