Business is war!
– Jack Tramiel, CEO
The big change I’ve seen in the last few years is that more executives look at careers and jobs more as war these days. David D’Allessandro wrote a book Career Warfare: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Personal Brand and Fighting to Keep It! Mr. D’Allessandro was a CEO of John Hancock Financial Services.
The book title pretty much says it all. CEO’s say it is tough and often Darwinian in today’s global marketplace. Let’s look at the examples of ‘up or out’ or ‘just in time’ work – both of which are tenets of today’s business landscape.
An executive is normally a person with a VP title. This person spent many years excelling at project assignments and climbing the corporate ladder. The executive may have survived the outsourcing challenges, price wars, off shoring, and many other battles. At that level, there is an ‘up or out’ mentality. Many executive have seen their colleagues get laid off. They’re scared. They ask themselves: “Will I be next?”
‘Just in time’ work is the unpopular human resource management philosophy that says treat employees like inventory – when times are good, hire project workers and when times are bad, downsize surgically. This philosophy promotes organizational flexibility, facilitates rapid change, and lowers costs but has high human and social costs.
Life Lesson Earned: See how your boss looks at his career or her job. Does he or she ascribe to career warfare? If so, what are the rules of engagement? Most importantly, do you understand the rules of engagement?