Last week I wrote about my resignation.
Apparently, I touched a little bit of a nerve.
I received some nice reactions on LinkedIn, but the most interesting responses I received were through direct messaging.
Many people considered me courageous, which is not the word I would have used for my move.
My word would have been ‘deliberate.’
Deliberate because life is too short to spend our time doing stuff we don’t like.
I know it’s easy to say.
I also realize some people may need the money, as a friend reminded me yesterday.
I admit, there may be many reasons why it’s not that easy to ‘just’ quit what you’re doing and pursue another direction.
Those reasons may prevent you from making a move in the short term.
But they shouldn’t prevent you from pursuing happiness in the long term.
That’s why I use the word deliberate.
Many are not happy with what they’re doing but not unhappy enough to make a move.
We’re compromising our way through our days. If you allow me to put my cynical hat on for a second:
Good luck!
I’m returning to the book ‘Delivering Happiness’ @ Zappos, and I’ll bridge it to my point above.
If what you do is not a fit for who you are, you’re going to be miserable at some point.
You need to make deliberate in the choices you make.
Just like businesses need to be deliberate in the culture they want for their business. And if those two don’t match, you’re not a fit.
I like companies that are deliberate about their culture, like Zappos. They know exactly who they want to be, and they know exactly who they need to hire.
They have answered the question of whether to accept culture as the consequence of how you work or invest resources into designing the culture you want.
I’m a fan of investing resources into deliberate culture design.
Because I believe it will increase job satisfaction, productivity, engagement, and consequently company results.
And isn’t that precisely what you want.
Companies that have invested resources into designing their culture score better on the indicators above.
Period.
That also means you’re deliberate in the people you hire, and you know exactly whether someone will fit your culture or not.
Fit for culture.
Somebody you consider hiring may be brilliant. You know that individual will make money for you, but if the personality is not a fit, you will regret it long term.
That’s when you decide not to hire and resist the temptation to compromise your culture.
That’s what great companies do.
Most companies don’t go that far. They have adopted (not designed) a culture over the years that works for them.
For some, it does work.
Those are the companies that are strictly top-down driven and managed authoritatively.
But for most, it doesn’t.
Those are the companies that ‘claim’ to have strong cultures, but in fact, they don’t.
They talk about values, but they don’t live them. They say they care about people, but they don’t.
In short: when you do have the opportunity, be deliberate.
Be deliberate in what you want and intentional in your choices. And when you make a mistake, like me, correct them as soon as you can.
But don’t stay where you are, and complain about the circumstances.
That’s on you. You always have a choice.
Your turn: are you fit for culture?
Do more of what makes you happy!
Erikjan