Sometimes looking back helps you look forward #hr
UncategorizedPublished October 26, 2009 at 4:20 pm 3 Comments
As a society, we are very focused on the future and how we want to shape and change things. We tweet, we blog, we discuss, we meet all about how things ‘should’ be. Yet rarely do we (Gen Y) actually take the time to really understand how we got to this point in the first place. We are a generation of thinkers. We are a generation of now. We are a now generation that see’s it isn’t right and just wants to jump in and fix it. We are a generation who (in many respects) doesn’t take the time to understand the history behind the why. We, in some respects, have an idealistic view of the way a society and business should operate vs. how the reality dictates it does and fights for the idealism vs reality.
In my idealistic world – work would be a part of who we are – a passion that people possess beyond any other and something they can’t imagine being with out. A company is a portal for a person to be able to delve into their craft and not worry about the auxiliary issues that they would face being independent. The experience would be a win/win from start to finish and would be existing for the greater good of society as a whole.
In reality – work (for so many people) has overtaken the “who” of who they are and not because it is a passion they possess, but because they are slaves to credit cards and mortgages and all of the other “wants” our society has created. Companies are not a partnership portal allowing individuals to shine and develop, rather they are succubus’ ready to suck the soul out of you if you dare try to change the course.
The question we should all think about before the how do we improve it, is the how did it get to this point to start with. At what point did companies lose their humanity – or did they ever have it to start with?
I am not fighting for reality. I am also not fighting for idealism.
I am advocating for a true understanding of the how and the why we got to the point we did based on fact. Much like history, we can only stop repeating mistakes once we truly understand and accept them. Only then can we become the generation that reshaped the future of business. I hope the next time you cross a challenge or something to change – you will take a few minutes to really discover the why and the how it got there in the first place.
I hate looking backwards. I don’t like learning from my mistakes. There, I admit it. I wish more companies, people, humans, cats, and space aliens would come clean. Reflection is hard.
Reflection is hard and it sucks and it usually shows you all of your mistakes. But it is also what differentiates people, humans, cats and most importantly space aliens in their quest for total world domination. And just creating change successfully.
I need to come clean.
I used to be a Space Alien.
I came to your planet and said take me to your leader. Unfortunately, I asked someone in the HR department and they took so long too actually figure out who was in charge that I left, and started wandering around on the streets.
Then I discovered Mixed Martial Arts and Britney Spears and most importantly, Jon and Kate + 8 and it initiated a gene sequence in my alien DNA and I began to devolve.
Now I am working in Human Resources.
Thank Bjork I am not a vampire. Then I wouldn’t be able to see myself in the mirror when I want to do this thing you call “reflection”!