Job As Performing Arts

This is for all you “suits” and ex-suits – suits here a metaphor for those having been caught in a corporate-type structure, the larger the “better.” For some corporate workers, the illusion of job security is no longer a fair trade for days spent shuffling papers. One says: "I manage a team of twelve who create documents for other teams who create documents for senior leadership who don't read documents (click: The Death Of The Corporate Job.)

For some, the structure serves as a kind of community, a pseudo family if you will. Like any family, however, some are more functional than others. Oh, no, not another mission statement. Or that spaghetti org chart. Or death by PowerPoint. Life in a Dilbert’s cartoon that only Kafka could love.

We might share the stories among you refugees from that world. A number of member bios suggest having managed the great escape. What were the circumstances and where did it lead?

Might you be one of those cited in the article as having used the corporate infrastructure as a platform for building something in parallel e.g. the marketer who runs an agency from their corporate desk; the consultant who has automated their deliverables to allow for side projects; the developer performing their official job in the morning while building their own products in the afternoon? Shame.

For the young and the restless without such an escape plan, perhaps view your role as a way to build your skills and your resources while you figure out what matters to you. The article grants you the permission slip to stop pretending your corporate role is real. Above all, you don’t have to tie your identity to your email signature.

A good start would be to see if you could describe in plain english exactly what you do as opposed to the cited “I facilitate stakeholder alignment across cross-functional workstreams.”

Shoot me now.

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