Johnny Paycheck’s ‘Take This Job and Shove It’ is now the Brand U anthem. And this attitude has now mainstreamed. One of the many new phenomena of this economy is the number of people who are quitting their jobs. Fortune, the capitalist’s magazine, had a piece recently called ‘The Joy of Quitting,” Well, it …
The churn logic goes something like this. There are three parties: 1. the raiding company, 2. the raided company and 3. the individual. The raider may be a start up, merged, or expanding company that needs certain skills and is willing to pay a market premium, sometimes a huge premium. The raided company, often the …
“Good or bad, the ‘churn’ seems to be reaching unprecedented levels as companies that once might have retrained employees for new roles, or waited for them to leave via attrition, are now jettisoning them to make room for new blood,” said the Wall Street Journal.[i] [i] Barta, Patrick, “In Current Expansion, As Business Booms, So, …
Being fired from a job was once the ultimate form of rejection. People would lie on their resumes, go into hiding, suffer from rejection, and seek therapy. Yes, I did many of these when I was sacked. Well, this strong economy has changed much of this especially as more work is temporary and companies are …
Mary Ann Pulley in Losing Your Job – Reclaiming Your Soul makes an important distinction between reacting or responding to change. Reacting implies emotional, rooted in past experience, and counter productive. Often we react with anger or bitterness based on past experiences. Responding implies a matter of choice in terms of how we feel instead …
Are the organization’s core activities and competencies being done in-house, by suppliers, by temps, or someone else? What are the risks and value to each group? Are the right people working on the right things? Are workers in each category chosen so their desires, abilities, and assets match their work? Are people compensated in …
Context: Harriet Rubin’s Soloist (Brand U’s) vs. Freelancers[i] Soloists Freelancers Work to experiment on their craft Work to pay the bills Take on daring clients Solicit safe clients Risk working in …
One commonly heard Brand U metaphor is we’re becoming actors in the theater of work. We’ll move from job to job, project to project much like actors move from play to play, production to production on TV, radio, movies, and Broadway. Some roles are starring – most are supporting. Or, Brand U career moves are …
Scott Adams’s comic strip Dilbert was immediately popular because managers, supervisors, and workers all laughed at what’s happened in the workplace. The game rules changed overnight. What were some of the old rules? Loyalty up led to loyalty down the organization. Good supervisors managed, organized, controlled, and directed subordinate’s activities. There were lots of these …
“The average graduate from high school or college will have 13 different employers during their working life.”[i] In 2016 the number of jobs we’re told may reach 20 or more. [i] Birch, David, “Thinking About Tomorrow,” Wall Street Journal, May 24 1999, p. R30.