Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Let us be Complacent No Longer!

Inspiring posts at Alchemy today:

"There are a ton of books and gurus and websites and blogs (not unlike this one, but that's likely to change...read on) that encourage us to pursue purposeful jobs. There are those of us who excite people to live their passions. We throw out lots of really thoughtful words and mantras that make it seem like the "perfect" career and workplace are so easy to achieve. All of this is done for what seems like the individual's benefit. There's just one problem with it all: the system in which each of us work is broken.
When it comes to hiring...organizations still insist on seeing meaningless resumes, conducting meaningless interviews, and contacting meaningless references.
When it comes to achieving...organizations still insist on handing out hollow titles and binding people with hollow position descriptions.
When it comes to treating people with respect...organizations still insist on not trusting their employees with the facts (usually in the form of silence, denial, and lying through their teeth) and not helping them grow as full people (they're only concerned about them from the time they enter the office doors to when they exit).
Not your organization, you say? Consider yourself lucky. This is your invitation. You now have an obligation to spread the seeds of how an organization MUST work in today's world. You have no other choice.
You may say this is a diatribe written in anger and frustration, but it is not. This is being written by someone who sees and understands that there will always be a problem with creating soulful work as long as organizations continue to operate with a "business as usual" mindset towards its most important asset: it's people."



Yes Chris, and so many people just go along with it. Now I don't pretend to have any easy answers, but I'd expect there are alot of talented creative and soulful people working for the soulless organizations that you talk about. If there are so many of us seeking soulful work, then why do we stay at the 9-5?

I know for Nigel and I it comes down to two things: 1) fear of the unknown unpaid world and 2) No clear idea of exactly what to do next, leading to "well we might as well stay here"
That's kind of a sad thought, but I'd hazard a guess that those two factors figure prominently in the apathy many of us feel.

FEAR: the big one - what if I can't eat? What if I embarrass myself and my family? What if my soulful work fails and I have to concede defeat? What if this is the best there is?

NO CLEAR IDEA: Well, I know I don't like it here, but what else IS there. Everybody else seems to think this is ok so I'll chalk it up to there's just something wrong with me. Don't wanna rock the boat if I don't even know what to do next...

Hey, news flash: I don't think everybody else thinks that soulless work is ok. They just appear to think that way - the same as you when you're pushing the 9-5... just a thought

So the organizations don't have a leg to stand on without people buying into what they're trying to sell. And in order for us all to stop buying into the soulless work experience we have to face the fear, forget about coming up with the perfect idea, and ust take the plunge.

I think I'm really lecturing myself here :)

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