This fellow showed integrity
despite the high cost
Not long ago at a convention I met a man who had just abandoned his career of 16 years. It had meant kissing goodbye two advanced degrees, a solid income, not a little community status, and considerable professional recognition.
He made this drastic change after coming to realize that the company he worked for did not and could not deliver what it promised in return for people’s money.
To utter the words I was wrong is hard for any human with an ego, which is any human. When uttering I was wrong means giving up a successful career it can be all but impossible. The greater the investment in a round hole, the more incentive there is to grind down the edges of square facts to make them fit.
The grinding process isn’t necessarily conscious. Many people are unaware that they work for a questionable organization, or that they market a questionable product. Fully indoctrinated, they are honest, fierce defenders.
Sometimes it is quite conscious. Some knowingly flimflam and don’t give a damn. They hide behind caveat emptor, as if Latin makes ripping people off okay.
I feel for those who, having begun to suspect that all is not well, are stewing over what to do about it. To resign a client whose products don’t perform as claimed is one thing; to resign your whole career is quite another. More than once, I have wondered if I could have done what the fellow I met at the convention did. His willingness to examine and weigh facts was no small thing. His acknowledging where the facts led was bigger. That he felt he no choice but to change careers? Huge.
He made this drastic change after coming to realize that the company he worked for did not and could not deliver what it promised in return for people’s money.
To utter the words I was wrong is hard for any human with an ego, which is any human. When uttering I was wrong means giving up a successful career it can be all but impossible. The greater the investment in a round hole, the more incentive there is to grind down the edges of square facts to make them fit.
The grinding process isn’t necessarily conscious. Many people are unaware that they work for a questionable organization, or that they market a questionable product. Fully indoctrinated, they are honest, fierce defenders.
Sometimes it is quite conscious. Some knowingly flimflam and don’t give a damn. They hide behind caveat emptor, as if Latin makes ripping people off okay.
I feel for those who, having begun to suspect that all is not well, are stewing over what to do about it. To resign a client whose products don’t perform as claimed is one thing; to resign your whole career is quite another. More than once, I have wondered if I could have done what the fellow I met at the convention did. His willingness to examine and weigh facts was no small thing. His acknowledging where the facts led was bigger. That he felt he no choice but to change careers? Huge.
—Steve Cuno
RSS Feed
