I have Australia to thank.
I forgot how the cleansing and inspiring feeling of starting a new job can feel. 8 years is too long for me to stay with a company. I know my generation gets crap for "job-hopping", and for awhile, I was determined to buck that trend and be a gen-x'er that didn't change jobs every 18 months. Well I've proven I can stick it out and don't just look for a new job so I don't have to deal with the long term mess I've created. Spent 5 years at one company, almost 7 at the next, and part of my brand was to consistently leave things in better shape than I found them.
So now on to the next challenge.
Like the subject of the Australia excursion, this is a small operation trying to deploy a major software system. Except this time, it's not to enable a mainframe to be shut down, its to position themselves for growth. Additionally, they don't have huge corporate resources to tap into...they are on their own, relatively speaking. Which means them investing in me is not a trivial decision. It also means I can't call in airstrikes if things get too dicey. They expect me to deliver and be 100% accountable, unlike my old company, which was big and unwieldy but could afford a wide margin of error. No, this is the real deal, but the type of challenge I am discovering I am drawn to.
1 month into the job I'm discovering the principles of project management apply pretty much the same, but the principles of politics are magnified 10 fold. Fortunately, I'm good at the politics part, always have been. But this situation puts a a premium on the currency of results, which are universal. That's a healthy environment for me.
So far, it has been a near-perfect engagement. This is what I do well. This is what I want to do, going forward. Adding value, saving money, and providing the expertise that small and mid-sized companies need to grow and compete with the oversized, bloated industry leaders.
In hindsight, I do not favor the established Wall Street darlings, but I do admire what they have accomplished, at least while they were still owned by their principles. I do not favor the companies that are so big that they are simply extensions of the government they are in bed with. I do not favor the companies that have lost their founding vision, and I certainly do not believe in the east coast establishment. I do not believe in the ones that ask for "sacrifice" or "service" in this time of recession, for pay cuts and benefit reductions. For 10-400 million dollars a year, I expect all of you to predict a recession and plan accordingly. To quote Ayn Rand, "The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master". Dear Fortune 50 CEO's: For 10-400 million dollars a year, I expect you to predict the future. So, if you had to lay off anyone due to your lack of planning for the recession, you should be fired for incompetence.
Small business thinks differently, and they are closer to the tangible fundamentals that matter. Want to know why America has "lost" its business edge? Look to Wall Street and the artificial rules they have implied (through consolidation and acquisitions) to Main Street. Look at any company with a proper noun in it's name and see if they are still running the company. Ford, Hewlett-Packard, Sperry, Garrett, Bendix, Westinghouse, Heinz, etc. Sold out? That's NOT where I want to be. Eventually, however, I'd like to take the lessons I learn back to big business, if only to remind them how disconnected and inflexible they've become.
I recently came across a fairly large company that didn't do what everyone else did during its industry boom a few years ago. Their approach was, "Yeah, we could gouge our clients like out bigger competitors, but we value the relationship. And we want to be remembered when this boom dies down." Well they have been, but the principals of their less-ethical competitors were still rewarded, and are probably retired and laughing now. That is something that is very wrong with the system we live in. Reward for short-term, non-sustainable gain needs to be taxed at 99% and the proceeds need to go back to public programs and the small and mid-business that are genuinely trying to do things better. No one should be rewarded or protected for simply being the biggest or the strongest. A tax structure that protects the biggest or strongest simply for the status quo is unjust and wrong, and should be challenged, changed or overthrown.
I hate to see the "establishment" win. I hate to see the same old thing produce the same old results and come out on top. That indicates a lull in evolution while someone has a temporary advantage. An advantage should be fleeting and real, not lucky and protected. For example, I hate to see old-school college football programs win using old-school techniques and formations. I love it when the Oregons and Boise States and BYU's and TCU's of the world win. They don't have the good ol' boys network to rely on, yet they STILL beat the "best of the best". Take Boise St. vs. Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
The little guys may not win all the time, but they should be given the preferential opportunity every time. They should not have to fight for equal treatment. They should not have to "respect the uniform" of the Ohio States of the world. They should have a place at the table based on their results alone, and if they perform, should be rewarded. If they get creamed, they should go back to the drawing board, but the established winner should not be accoladed any more. The bottom line is, when the "big guy" wins, it is always with additional, inequitable resources...where's the honor in that?
My course does not overly respect the veneer of tradition or the authority of experience. I've seen "30 years of experience" simply represent 1 year of repeated lucky experience (times 30) too many times to put too much credence in just time.
Results are what matters, not "results".
Anybody on top can produce "results". It takes a real producer, a real competitor, to produce real Results.
And that's where I want to be. Recognized and rewarded for producing actual value, actual Results with a capital R, and not for doing what a billion other monkeys could do, if only given the chance. If you suspect you are a monkey, if you suspect you are just lucky and in the right place at the right time...you probably are. On the other hand, if you can clearly articulate your value proposition, every minute of every day, and it doesn't get stale, then you are a true contributor and not just feeding off the fears of the powerful but ignorant. I cannot feed off the trough of corporate waste. Employment there is like eating McDonalds for every meal. Sustaining and good on the surface, but deadly in the long run.
So begins my new enlightened approach. Will I be tempted to suckle on the corporate teat again? Sure. But knowing is half the battle...and now I know what to avoid, just like after reading that first book on nutrition. I know what lasting value is, what it feels like, and when it's being cheaply substituted for short term gain. Australia woke me to something I've known all along...If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. (Aussies have a way of cutting thru the BS that I admire) So far it has done me well. I am reminded of a quote that is permanently affixed to the refrigerator..."Be bold, free, and truthful." - Brenda Ueland
And thus, I begin.
