Been #piped out of two jobs since 2014 — and actually three if you count one contract I had. Three in about six years? Seems bad, and might be, but I’d say it kinda reflects how companies broadly work these days. There is not much loyalty out there, and ultimately a lot of companies are run by cost-cutters. (PS: That is exactly why the rise of automation should scare you. Robots cost less long-term than you do.)
Into this loyalty-reduced world of work, we have all these discussions about “passion” and “purpose” and “bringing your authentic self to work.”
Let’s be clear: At some places, and for some people, these concepts would work. In over half the situations, though, being purposeful and passionate and authentic will get you a pink slip.
This is what most managers want
- Drones
- Don’t pipe up
- Do your work
- Be in a seat somewhere
- If something shiny and urgent emerges, get on that
- Be in meetings, not on laptop/phone
- Respond to e-mails from above you in the hierarchy within 5-10 minutes
- Take about 2 weeks off total
- Don’t work from home very much
This varies by organization, of course. It varies for remote employees, of course. Many different scenarios here. But this is definitely what most managers want, because the above elements allow for control, and work is broadly about control.
Words like passion are directly counter to this. A passionate person says “Hey, I love this place. I see where we could be better. Here are some ideas!” Most bosses look at that and sneer. “This isn’t why we’re paying you.”
“Authentic?” Being authentic can be very messy. What manager has time to do that in between meetings, calls, forms, logistics, back-end stuff? Who wants to deal with Todd with the nose ring, dude?
“Purpose” is a thing executives say because it sounds better than “I want to make as much money as is humanly possible and funnel as much of that to myself.” It just tests better in big meetings, you know?
If you display these things at a company, you are usually given the #pipe — and probably within three months. At least at most places I’ve seen.
Your take?
What we have here is a failure of understanding. See,passion in the real world means overwhelming emotion about a topic.
As most soon discovered emotion is basically banned from the Western workplace.
“Passion’s” meaning at work instead is one or multiple of the following: an empty HR buzzword, a sensitivity topic the execs or lieutenants repeat in order to sound relevant – or a term meaning “my favorite target hitter” when used by managers.
Example- managers will exult Steve for working 57 hours and crushing his KPIs as being a “passionate employee”. If your idea of fun is being a workaholic, that’s the only passion most companies will allow.
If however you feel passionate about the objective of the org, or it’s published core values (you naive child), or achieving a positive goal the hierarchy will eat you up and spit you out.
There are a multitude of examples, but one freely accessible is the case of Colonel James Burton and the book/movie The Pentagon Wars. He simply wanted to do a relatively basic job- but the military hierarchy had other plans, and when his passion got in the way of other officers’ reputations and relevance they fought back. Colonel Burton was literally fired twice and re-instated by Acts (plural) of Congress each time.
What’s funny is companies and teams run with people first and clear objectives don’t have to cite emotional buzzwords. They just get the job done and people feel passionate anyways.
This way of doing business is fundamentally alien to the status and influence chasing managerial hierarchies in most companies.
Respond to e-mails from above you in the hierarchy within 5-10 minutes
Was recently let go from a company after 1.5 weeks because I was having issues setting up the email account they wanted me to use for receiving the daily emails. Mind you there were no issues from my direct cohorts and the decision came from my supervisor who only saw me face to face twice.
Also Ted are you familiar with Goodhart’s Law? It explains why businesses and companies have become increasingly inhumane and miserable for the past 30-40 years.
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
The primary goal/target for most companies was to provide a quality service and/or product. One of the most important measures of this was the amount of profit produced from the ventures. However at some point making money went from be a measure of businesses to their primary goal. This has created an environment in which
1) Companies are considered successful solely from their profit gains and no longer from the quality of their service/goods
2) Since making profit is the primary goal, everything else becomes expendable and useless in eyes of the higher ups.
That about sums it up.