| Notes |
false self"The plan I suggest in this chapter is the old 'false identity' ploy. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Or make it appear as if you're joining 'em. Sometimes it's just no use fighting the system. Burn your personal fuel cells on things you have some control over and enjoy. If you're trapped in a culture of idiots with no possibility for improvement in your lifetime, you might as well blend in. Why burn yourself out?" (p. 32)
career, passion"Ambitious, creative, innovative, and enthusiastic team members can still draw enough attention to be executed or run off by status quo preservationists. Many people do a good job and make tremendous contributions to the achievement of organizational goals, only to have those achievements and contributions minimized, marginalized, and maligned. Such people often buy into the mythical belief that they can take their hard work and enthusiasm to another organization where they will be better appreciated.
That rarely works. Most of the time, they find the grass no greener in the new pasture and all they have succeeded in doing is lowering their seniority. There are bad bosses everywhere. You might as well master the art of working with them right where you are. After a few such disappointing attempts to find greener pastures, some formerly enthusiastic people go numb, fall silent, melt into the woodwork, and manage to coast across the retirement finish line before anyone notices. They didn't set out to do it that way, the system merely knocked them unconscious, and that's how it turned out." (p. 137)
|
