Professional Representation
Apologies for the very long delay between posts. My life has gone through a fair bit of upheaval, which I'll share since it will segue nicely into today's topic.
I just quit my job; my last day was Friday. For the first time in my life, I'm leaving a job where everyone, co-workers and management alike, was sorry to see me go. It was surprisingly hard to leave, considering that my reasons for doing so were so sensible (the new job is just, well, better -- not as interesting, perhaps, but better). Of course, there is a management style consisting of pretending to be someone's at least pseudo-friend and then, inevitably, letting them down because it's a business relationship rather than a friendship. But my boss at my old company was either suckered into believing his own propaganda or (more likely, since he's not much of an actor) is that rarity, the Genuinely Nice Guy who really *is* trying to be your friend. He didn't do a bad job either, considering that the boss-employee relationship, at least when I'm involved, has a low tolerance for the sort of honesty that characterizes actual friendship.
The only difficulty I've had with this entire process has been maintaining the appropriate professional detachment. I was saddened to finally leave, even though I'd been looking off and on during my entire tenure. That's harmless in itself, but the behavior is more insidious. I tend to fall into the trap of treating my company and its needs as if it were on the basis of friendship, and that's entirely inappropriate. No company worth its salt (excepting, perhaps, small family-owned businesses) is treating its employees as friends. If the underlying financials dictate layoffs, the company will let you go, dispassionately (for the most part), regardless of the great times you've had together.
This is probably obvious to everyone but me, but I have nothing to lose from doing the right thing, keeping professional detachment. My boss won't hate me; my co-workers won't tease me at recess and call me names. To be sure, one doesn't want to go the other way into shortsighted selfishness, but that's an unlikely outcome for me in any case.
It's the company's job to be an advocate for its needs. But it's my own job to be an advocate for mine.
