What I learned in my not-forever jobs
By: Electra Y Leon
Tags: Workplace, Work, Mwc Work, Workplace Culture, Jobs

Oh, the many things we do and see while not going after our dreams. To you and my future self: In bold questions to ask, in italic things to remember when entering the jungles that our work environments are.

“Florida Jungle” by Winslow Homer from Wikimedia Commons

1. What kind of “animals” live here?

In my early Twenties, I worked as an assistant in an office that offered financial and legal services to very wealthy people.Theodore was a brilliant mind there, a funny coffee kitchen encounter and lawyer with eccentric clientele. He was so busy chasing money and status that for example once he left me laying on the floor semi-passed out, on his way to lunch. Uninterrupted walking: “You are okay, right?“ The last time I saw him before I quit this job, he told me to never work too much because life was too short. Really?

Not too long after, suddenly and unexpectedly, Theodore died. When I heard this news, images flashed in front my eyes. The people he was involved with towards the end. An old shark from Wall Street, an art dealer from a tax-evasive place and scammers operating out of Asia, trying to sell a national treasure. Theodore had gotten into this bigger than life scheme and it grew over his head. All of a sudden the art dealer and him were sued for hundreds of millions of dollars. We had to deny his presence in the office when journalists or other strangers called.

“People go missing for those amounts of money” said another lawyer back then. We miss him and:

“The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.” — Somerset Maugham

Recently I stumbled upon his LinkedIn account. He had no family except his elderly mother — not tech-savvy — and the friends you meet on yachts — fleeting. So as his former assistant, I took on a last task, after all these years, and got the account deactivated. Some people from our office had received e-mails for a while after he died. From his account. The content: “That’s what happens when…” I was told about this one late night over sashimi at a restaurant filled with palms and candles. Shivers running down my spine.

→ There are innumerable crazy worlds that run in parallel, layered upon each other on this planet. Sometimes they do touch. You be careful when you enter an unknown world. There might be sharks.

2. How do they relate to each other and should I adopt that style or better not?

On the weekends I had a second job at the entrance of a club. I trusted only one of several bosses there and he trusted me. So we worked together for six years, having each others backs, keeping our heads levelled amongst crazy crowds. Paulo was a jack of all trades and I asked him once how he always managed to get so many different, hip jobs. “People like me.” But what if they stop liking you? He laughed at this, waving me off. Then he got fired because of a fight within leadership. Just like that. After all these years. The liking was gone and I got invited to the angriest goodbye party of all times. With people jumping through red pyrotechnics out front, hourly drunken rants about morals and comradeship from the DJ boot (Paulo) and questionable wall decorations.

→ At work, I aim to make my contributions proveable since then and to see socializing for what it is: not the main and also a risky thing. You like me? Great. Write down how exactly I contribute to this place. So that I have something to show when moods change.

→ By the way, it also pays to

keep your eye on the loose canon guests with keychains in their hands,

never use weapon-license-worthy pepper sprays outside when the wind blows

and don’t let songs escape. One night I had to impulsively entrust a visiting friend with the entrance cash register to go snatch this from the DJ — zero regrets:

3. What and who drives their behaviour?

A bit later in life, as a part-time sales person for a higher-end fashion brand, I learned that happy people don’t buy. Placative statement, hard to explain exactly where, when and how it applies. But I strongly felt this and I tell you in general, at least your luxury customers will have an issue or two they are trying to eradicate shopping. One of our co-workers played with that. Consciously or not? I don’t know. But it was masterful in some way and also hard to watch. A person would come in, unhappy in all their own ways (Tolstoj!), desperate for something. The co-worker would release that something, slowly. Through body language, tone of voice, smiles, eyebrows raised. All of it in correlation to how much money the person was spending. A cordial laugh, a compliment, big thank you, maybe a soft touch on the arm = not under USD 1000 spent.

Also: in sales training I was introduced to our target customer. The well-bred 35 year old businessman with an international circle of sporty, adventurous friends. Short, one of the upcoming “rulers of the world.” Everything our brand did was tailored to him. The advertisement, the clothing. But the guy never entered our store. Who came instead? Groups of “ghetto boys”, lost and confused in teenage struggles. Elderly construction workers with foreign origins, broken backs and family in tow. Short: those who wanted to be like our guy. Consumer capitalism works like this. Showing you who you could, should be. Making the gap between that idol and yourself painfully obvious a solution urgent. Then offering a way to leap over the ditch, into absolution. With money. Didn’t religion do this before?

→ Whenever you think a problem can be solved with money alone, think again. If it really can be solved like this, it wasn’t a real problem in the first place. Don’t be lazy. And also: not everything wicked is a conspiracy theory. Often it’s business.

4. How do things move around here?

And: “Is it by mistake or design?” — Lana del Rey.

Another time I was a “visitor” at a private bank, working in a project just for a couple of months. To make money for my start-up (potential future story). So at the bank, everyone was out for power in some way. Yet most employees shied away from responsibilities and risks. The people who took those were promoted and fired in heartbeats. Who stayed in positions of relative power? The “social engineers” who operate in the twilight and delegate tricky stuff. Often to external consultants. The latter get handsomely paid to seemingly stick their necks out. But they often actually don’t. Instead many of them just show some business bullshit bingo powerpoints and disengange from execution of their plans (those are — again — delegated, this time back to confused permanent bank employees of lower ranks). Then they leave. Never influencing the bank system profoundly, yet serving the bank in other ways.

Thanks to those consultants’ presence, the bank and its “social engineer semi-bosses” can show investors and other stakeholders some action: “We are on it.” Innovation, anti-money laundering, re-structuring? “Yes, yes, this is being done as.we.speak.” For people who instead want to effect real change in complex and male-dominant structures, the following two building blocks seemed important:

→ Gather intelligence: be curious, read it all and talk to everyone. If allowed: Call departments that are relevant to your task up and inquire directly about questions that regard them. Find out what they want why, how they function and communicate. There are significant differences between departments and people that are invisible at first sight (including their language), but crucial to success of interdisciplinary action. One bank example would be compliance (= upholding the rules, risk-averse) versus relationship managers (= their success being measured on how much new money they bring in).

→ For the women: Be sensitive to how men co-operate in the workspace. Let your masculine energy come out to play (ideally only the good parts of) their game with them. I joined the bank’s shooting club. Soon surrounded by silverbacks trying to improve my skills, I learned about secrets of all kinds.

…This came at a little cost, however: On my birthday, I had a piece of leftover cake with me. The piece you cherish, like Ross’ Thanksgiving Sandwich (TV series “Friends”). Unfortunately and rethorically, I asked if anyone wanted a bite of it. Due to a resounding “YES” we shared brotherly. No one was satisfied, but it was fair. And when our team at work couldn’t solve x and I had already called all relevant departments for help, I asked the eminent authorities at the firing range. My boss: “How did you end up actually solving x? That’s crazy.” — “Well, Garry, from the shooting club is Head of IT. So he…”

To forever be fine-tuned: the difficult distinction between socializing at work for being liked + relying on that (Paulo) and forming purposeful, solid connections that are based on something else than just mood and personality. Here comes to mind a saying:

“Charme is what you have until you rely on it.” — Unkown source.

Plus

Hedge your bets: Work two part-time jobs or work for two departments within your one job. Try to never depend 100% on one superior, one department, one company or one approach. Grab as much independence of thought and freedom of movement as you can. The ensuing dignity is not only fun, it is also a requirement for advancing meaningfully in your career.

Be visible: Make sure your efforts are documented and valued. Consider sending regular reports to someone important. Write down manuals on how you do the things you do well and strategically share them with your superiors (anti-intuitive, I know). Tell people who are not in competition with you about your wins. After reading “50 Laws of Power” from Robert Green, I have to add: Never outshine your master though. So brag humbly, maybe, and only in connection to a question or tied to a compliment that you have for the other person.

Lastly as well as first of all: Find joy and patterns in things, even if they are just for practice.