someone with amazing credentials who won’t really care about what our team is trying to do.
That’s me. I’ve been around the block enough times to know that no business is going to give a fraction of a shit about me. My niche is preventing the company from losing money, not bringing in money. I’m a cost center with zero glamor. The people around me may care, but unless those people are directly running the business, it doesn’t matter. Likewise, I may care about the people and want to help them. But I will not care one bit about the company, or the shareholders.
I would also rather have someone who is going to challenge our team’s assumptions and bring insights from other fields and experiences than someone who will very competently agree with our status quo.
This is also me. “You can’t do it that way.” Why not? “Because we do it this way.” Not a valid answer. Don’t just teach me a procedure. Let me understand the goals, the tools, and the requirements. If another way of doing it won’t work, then you left out one or more of the above. My first big self-project at my last employer (which I was told over and over again was a waste of time, the suits would never allow it) is still running 24/7 on a big screen in the command center, 12 years later.
In practice, I’ve found that the people in charge really like boot-licking and really dislike being challenged. That’s two strikes against me, and many times they won’t need to find a third. I can’t feign excitement via worksona anymore.
That’s me. I’ve been around the block enough times to know that no business is going to give a fraction of a shit about me. My niche is preventing the company from losing money, not bringing in money. I’m a cost center with zero glamor. The people around me may care, but unless those people are directly running the business, it doesn’t matter. Likewise, I may care about the people and want to help them. But I will not care one bit about the company, or the shareholders.
This is also me. “You can’t do it that way.” Why not? “Because we do it this way.” Not a valid answer. Don’t just teach me a procedure. Let me understand the goals, the tools, and the requirements. If another way of doing it won’t work, then you left out one or more of the above. My first big self-project at my last employer (which I was told over and over again was a waste of time, the suits would never allow it) is still running 24/7 on a big screen in the command center, 12 years later.
In practice, I’ve found that the people in charge really like boot-licking and really dislike being challenged. That’s two strikes against me, and many times they won’t need to find a third. I can’t feign excitement via worksona anymore.