I started working for a local company in one of their factories on 7/20/81. 29 years, 5 months, 2 weeks and 1 day later I quit.
A lot happened in those 10,760 days between starting and quitting. Two marriages and one divorce. Multiple blue collar jobs in multiple plants on all three shifts. Sporadic attempts at education and eventually educational success. Ten years to achieve an associates degree. Four years to complete a bachelors degree. Three years to complete the first masters program and two years to complete the second. Promotions to office and then to salaried positions followed and opportunities expanded. Business travel, both nationally and internationally, was now expected. My role in community activities increased from participant to volunteer to board member.I found that I was very good in the "second man in-charge" role - more of a consultant or influencer than an actual leader.
In each and every situation, someone else made the final decisions, set the ultimate course of action, decided on the strategy, and took responsibility (as well as the credit) for the outcome. At the end of my career in this organization, I rotated from back-seat driver to riding shotgun depending on my up-line and the importance of the situation.There were countless opportunities to observe and learn from those leading me. What strikes me now is the realization that they too were being led. Rarely did I come into contact with the "real" decision makers: those individuals who could actually change the organizational direction or require a new program to be followed. The vast majority of people in this 14,000+ organization were simply following the tail of the guy or gal ahead of them - desperately attempting to interpret signals, signs, directions, non-verbals, unwritten rules, and politics.
Typically decisions were slow and poorly thought out. New programs were implemented with great fanfare and cost, only to die a quiet death as the next new program was rolled out on top of them. Supervisors, managers and even some VPs came and went. Strategies, Visions, Mission Statements came and went. Years came and went. The goal was to keep your head down and work to outlast the next newest bad idea. Most, if not all of us felt that our contribution meant little and those of us that had been there more than 10 years were simply hanging on the best we could.
Desperate, useless, apathetic, depressed, numb, pointless, uninspired, and hopeless were some of the terms used by my follow workers to describe how they felt about their role in the company. I spoke to over 80 people one-to-one in the month proceeding my exit from the company; only two of them did not speak "negatively" about the jobs they held and/or the company and neither of them actually spoke positively.
I requested an "Exit Interview" with HR so that I could share my experiences and perspective, somehow thinking that they may find some value in my 29-year investment, but they were not interested enough to follow through and schedule a meeting.
I leaned many things in my tenure there. How to load a skid, fill a truck, mix products, drive a hilo, supervise people, plan, schedule, work with logistics, marketing, sales... etc, etc, etc. But the thing I learned most, or best, was how to follow. This skill was encouraged at every level, in every job, at every meeting.
For twenty nine years I practiced following the "leader."
Be careful what you practice.
