I'll begin with an apology. This post may come across as a bit curmudgeonly, but I will try to keep it somewhat light. After all, it's been several months (4, to be exact) since I posted anything. It's not as if there hasn't been plenty going on, with the election, the Olympics, and a host of crazy events in the world occurring. It's not even that I haven't wanted to write. But everything we do carries a price, and we have to determine where are efforts are best applied.
For me, the corporate world has become a bizarre scenario. Recent management changes in my office have led to responsibility shifts, and being a white male over 50, I'm in an unusual position. I have to continually prove my relevance. That shouldn't be unusual, it's the kind of relevance I have to prove which is unusual. We should all have to prove ourselves capable and competent in our jobs, regardless of age. This seems to be less important today. What I have to consistently prove is how well I 'fit' in the organization. In other words, it's now what you do or say, but how you do or say it. Results aren't gauged by how quickly or efficiently they are accomplished, but by how well they are 'socialized'. To a large degree, it has required a considerable bit of effort to run in place. I've found that my days are spent as much determining strategies to move forward as they are spent trying to get the job done.
It doesn't help that I'm not 'diverse', as I pointed out 3 years ago. It seems my lack of 'diversity' makes me less 'useful'. What is particularly odd about this is that I'm over 50, and I'm the only one in the department over 50. Whereas 5 years ago I was fighting whippersnappers who were consolidating their power, rather than taking business risks which could have provided revenue, now I'm fighting whippersnappers who are instituting processes to make sure any business risks we take are not 'risky'. Those processes are couched in a design that purports to achieve full disclosure so any 'risk' is mitigated. In reality, it's a veiled form of Cover Your Ass. Few conversations take place on the phone, everything is done through email to make sure all communications are tracked. If you do hop on the phone (really the only way to get things done), make sure you send out an email to everyone immediately detailing what the call entailed.
As I so often do, I went for a walk in Central Park to clear my head today. I watched parents walking with their kids, pushing strollers and eating ice cream. I saw lovers on blankets at Sheep Meadow, young groups of kids walking around playing Pokemon Go (at least they are outside and getting exercise), buskers, bums and lots of boaters on the pond. Walks like this take my mind off the nonsense I have to deal with at the office. I begin to realize the world isn't as crazy as a hyper-politicized business environment.
It's easy to go crazy when you take your job as seriously as I do and get upset when people get in the way of producing results by pushing 'process'. It's not as easy to take a walk and realize life isn't as serious as you think it is when you're sitting at your desk dealing with young people who have all the answers and no respect for experience. Not all these kids are so bad, it's the few that are - the hypersensitive and ubermotivated - who give the whole group a bad name. Outsized expectations coupled with outsized egos and thin skins.
But Central Park is relaxing. I used to think Central Park was a benefit that came with where I worked. Lately I've come to believe the job is the price I pay to be near Central Park. It's not a terrible trade-off. It would probably be nicer if I loved my job the way I used to, but it's going to take some big changes to alter than arrangement. My industry (and perhaps many others) has become highly unpredictable. It's good to get out and look at trees and clouds for an hour or more.
