Comments on: Secret (change) Agent Man

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:57:45 +0000

Great strip, Mike. All too familiar, huh?

By: Michael Hughes

Michael Hughes — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:59:58 +0000

It is useful to know if the person recruiting you has been mandated to make change or if you are being invited in to be part of the “Change Sales Team.” I have taken some positions I thought were the former only to find out they were the latter. When conversations start sounding like last Sunday’s Dilbert (http://user-assistance.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-have-so-been-here.html) I get a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:25:03 +0000

Not necessarily, Andrew, but you have to define what your objective is then. Every opportunity has an opportunity cost. I wouldn’t enter a situation that had a 99% chance of failure unless there were no other opportunity or tack that was of better use of my time. It’s like teaching a pig to sing.

In learning from our own mistakes – yes there is value in that, but that is likely not the goal of the exercise. There are many more ways to fail than succeed. I would prefer to learn from others’ failures and my own successes. But the sting of our own personal failure does tend to last with us longer.

By: Andrew Fuqua

Andrew Fuqua — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:25:49 +0000

What would be a /wrong/ change opportunity? Are you implying that any opportunity that in which there is a good likelihood of failure of a bad opportunity? One can learn a lot through failure, and have a good time, make some good friends, make a good go at serving the organization, and be gainfully employed in the process.

One should certainly hope to have success, and should strive to have more successful ventures than not. But how can one grow without taking on some risk of failure?

But to answer your question, about all I can do is take it all in, all the things that were said and how well I connect with the apparent power brokers, and go with my gut.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:48:07 +0000

By the way Joe, I wasn’t referring to your (my former) employer in my post! Although some of it applies.

About your question, rather than asking questions, I would hope those I speak with (during interviews and after starting) are somewhat open to sharing what the challenges are, and if there’s no sharing, then that right there is the biggest issue.

I must also mention I once took a job (great opportunity), working directly for the CEO/Founder, and during interviews he was very candid about the problems/challenges, and I was confident they were solvable, and encouraged by his desire to solve them. After I started working there, I learned HE was the biggest problem, because a) he really didn’t want to change anything, and b) he micromanaged horribly to the extent of having an assistant watch and log when people went to lunch and returned!

In hindsight I should have listened to vibes I was getting from others I interviewed with, the insecurity of the CEO, and the culture of fear (of the CEO) and lack of trust.

Despite addressing some of the problems there, the CEO resisted and went behind my back and ‘panicked’ about who was managing my staff locally if I went away to a remote office to meet staff there! Crazy.

On a more positive note I’ve worked for more supportive, trusting, and inspiring people than paranoid nut jobs. lol