What It's Like To Work With Us

Here's a case study that was put together by the folks at Advisable. If you're curious as to what it's like to do a deep dive with us, it'll give you a good idea -- and about a lot more than just limited executions.

Having Fun At Work (With People Who Aren't Fun)

A few start ups ago, I had to work with a person that everyone in the building, to be blunt, dreaded. 

They were essential to the enterprise -- the way that everyone like this is. They knew way more about lots of things that other people didn't know. They didn't have people report to them directly, because of a number of reasons that everyone involved probably didn't want to admit, which may have contributed to their unprofessional attitude. And they dealt in 100% Candor and telling it like it is, and going into the details of how things worked, regardless of whether you had any interest in those details. 

Giving them feedback about how any of that came off was pointless. Either they accepted it with grace and then fell back into old habits, or they regarded the submission as a personal attack. To be fair, it's hard for adults, especially ones that have achieved some things in their lives, to change their ways. Especially when they have very good reasons to think they are right about something.

The overwhelming feeling that you got from working with them was, well, fatigue. Changing anything was going to be too hard, so what constitutional lawyers refer to as a cooling effect came into play. You either did as little as possible to limit your exposure to them, or you did new initiatives without their knowledge, and crossed your fingers that the land mine would stay buried. If you did have to interact with them, you did so with as much prep as possible, in the hope that they'd see your data or your work and just back off.

They have their reasons for being this way. Maybe even really good ones. I'm also sure that life was an unending slog of underperforming co-workers that aren't up to their standards. That also must suck. 

But if the only thing in life that is important is who gets to be right, and never ever doing the wrong thing... 

Well, you aren't going to learn very much. Or do very much, really.

 Or seem very happy about anything, because...

The human sensation of Fun comes from a twist in pattern recognition in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. If something seems like something you recognize but with a novel (but not threatening) variation, your hippocampus sends some dopamine along to the amygdala. Everyone loves that dopamine, and hey presto, Fun. For a little while.

If you find that you are having No Fun at work -- because no one is doing things your way, because your attempts at collaborating are either unsuccessful or unwanted, and everyone involved seems like they'd rather just do it themselves...

Well, there's a chance that you are becoming the problem co-worker for them.

And really may need need to try new things, or ways to work.

Because, well, changing yourself has a hell of a lot more chance to work than changing anyone else...

Hiring Red Flags, or why Kevin O'Leary of Shark Tank is a Likely Asshat

Beware the Omniscient

I saw this headline this morning.

"When Kevin O'Leary sees this resume red flag, 'I simply put it into the garbage'

What's the red flag for this bit of clickbait? 

When the applicant has held a number of jobs over the previous two years.

Ya see, ol' Kev is too smart to commit to People Like That. Companies that hire people are making Commitments, you see, and anyone who has a number of positions on their resume is simply a Job Hopper, devoid of personal loyalty, and just not A Good Person. Do Not Hire. Let 'em starve.

Leading to the following thought.

Hey, Kev, how long have you been omniscient?

Or, failing that, someone who practices in generalizations and avoids thought and due diligence?

If there is one thing that I've learned in 20+ years in marketing and advertising, at a number of start ups and for hundreds and hundreds of corporate and personal clients, it's this: 

There is (almost) never (just) one thing. In anything. 

Yes, I'm sure that many people with short stops on their resume were job hopping for reasons that a future employer might not love. Or an unwillingness to start a potential new position with a lack of integrity. 

Others had medical issues. Or family complications that required an exit. Or found themselves in a situation where their employer had a sudden downturn, or a particularly awful incident, that was in no way the responsibility of the applicant. 

There's going to be a lot of these people, what with the pandemic.

You know, the one you just summarily dismissed, rather than do any goddamned work. Or considered anything but the most negative possibility, because You're Too Busy or Smart or Picky or Whatever.

In my distant past, I took a job with an employer that I was super excited about. I did my due diligence to the best of my ability, won the role, and found myself in the CEO's office late on a Friday afternoon just a few weeks after I started.

Which is when he decided to close the door so that just the two of us could have a very serious and heartfelt conversation about Jesus. (Spoiler Alert! That role did not last long or end well.)

Leading to a situation where, in Kevin O'Leary's World Of Red Flags and Red Flags Only, I was a (sting music!) JOB HOPPER. Leper Outcast Unclean! 

(And yes, I should have done better research about this guy and that place, but show of hands -- who has ever had this happen to them as well?)

Oh, and it turns out that O'Leary has also bounced from gigs in his past life, and subscribes to political views that make him, shall we say, highly suspect in certain circles. 

So I can probably pull the Likely from the header of this post... but won't. 

Because, you see, I'm not omniscient. Or an asshat. (Hopefully.)

So if you have an applicant that you like with a number of positions on their resume, you *can* throw that in the garbage. It's a free country.

Or you could, I dunno, ASK THE APPLICANT ABOUT IT. See if they put your fears to rest. Consider the entirety of the candidate. 

Because in the new World of Work, where applicants have options and labor is tight?

You just might need to look past your Red Flag.

That might not even be a flag.