Subj : Re: Dad'ism
To   : Doug Cooper
From : Dennis Katsonis
Date : Sun May 31 2020 20:12:00

-=> Doug Cooper wrote to Dennis Katsonis <=-

 DK> I wish I could do the same too.  I could change careers, but that would
 DK> result in a drop in salary that I can't really make work at the moment.
 DK> I can't change the company from within, because no matter how much they
 DK> talk about "values", they are all the same really. In fact, the MORE a
 DK> company talks about value, the worse it behaves.
 DK> --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux

 DC> So funny you brought that up.  My first real career was with a retailer
 DC> within consumer electronics.  They were the Nordstrum of electronics if
 DC> you will.  Instead of tile floors, carpet.  Very "feel at home" paint
 DC> colors.  We offered every customer a pop or coffee (or bottle of water)
 DC> when they arrived.  We really prided ourselves and consistently
 DC> executed their version of "The 10 commandments to customer service."
 DC> People loved shopping in our stores.  We averaged 30,000sqft in size,
 DC> and carried everything best buy did, but also the high end shops..  We
 DC> had no intent on selling al ot of $50,000 home theatre systems, however
 DC> we had a high end movie theatre room set up for people to expeience ...
 DC> actually had about 4 different type of experience rooms.  Most
 DC> customers came in wanting the $99 speakers.  After experiencing a
 DC> $20,000 audio system, then listing to the $99 version, they would
 DC> typically spend an average of $1500 on at least definitive techology or
 DC> klipsch speakers.  I fell in love with the company and the people I
 DC> worked with, however as we grew, profits were needed to sustain the
 DC> growth, and slowly but inevitably a lot of the "10 commandments" went
 DC> away -- the culture collapsed.

 DC> After leaving that company, I started working for Sears as a General
 DC> Manager. I remember them stating over and over again the need to learn
 DC> things "their way," and about their unique culture of customer service.
 DC>  It pailed in comparison to where I had previously worked.  matter of
 DC> fact, the company was struggling so much that their expectations of a
 DC> well merchandised store was impossible to maintain.  I ran a
 DC> 120,000sqft store that did 30 million per year.  We would have ONE
 DC> employee "approved" by the corporation to merchandise the entire
 DC> upstairs apparel area, which on it's own was a good 20-40,000 sqft and
 DC> heavily shopped.

 DC> Moving on to another local company here in Indiana -- rinse and repeat
 DC> -- "Must laern our culture," "must learn what we do and how we do it,"
 DC> "must learn our systems," etc... It was ALL the same, but in this case,
 DC> their culture was a very agressive sales approach like old school car
 DC> dealerships. Horrible experience, despite the increase in pay.

 DC> My final stop was Best Buy.  Now this company really wanted me to drink
 DC> some funky Koolaid -- build relationships, employee moral committies,
 DC> etc.... It was tailored to 18 years olds with sensitive personalities
 DC> that constantly needed pats on the back, and rewarded for simply doing
 DC> their job.   This is when my mom passed and I was able to break free of
 DC> (circling back to what you're saying ...) corporations.

 DC> I think, as I babbled, to your point .. what I found in common with ALL
 DC> of them, is that each felt their culture was unique.  Despite each
 DC> being within the same industry and most using similar systems .. they
 DC> each felt that they were so remarkably different that NONE of them were
 DC> open to a fresh set of eyes who could possibly positivly impact their
 DC> business. And most important, I've found that the cliche' "that we are
 DC> no longer valued employees, just another disposable number," or "cog
 DC> within a wheel," were all so true and often subtle messages sent to
 DC> leaders as means of motivation to drive corporate goals.

 DC> This is why I prefer small businesses, or interacting with those on
 DC> BBS's, that still believe in doing great things, and the value of
 DC> people helping them acheive it.  Like a small business with the belief
 DC> they can create a truly unique retail store, beit true or not that they
 DC> will succeed, the energy and passion behind the hard work to do so is
 DC> the only type of company I'd work for again -- otherwords, I'll just
 DC> start my own again.  More and more people seem to appreciate local and
 DC> small businesses these days at least where I live.  And I guess, how it
 DC> relates to BBS's, I prefer to discuss "how to gain users" then to think
 DC> of them  as nothing more than "museums" and "archives in history"

 DC> If you like the people you work with, and the work is fun, I imagine
 DC> its worth staying as in my eperience, that experience is usually not
 DC> recreated again when a job change is made within the same field.  Most
 DC> of the time. Not from a corporate culture prospective.

 DC> Now .. .the owning a business thing has significant advantages, mostly
 DC> flexibility of time and more time working from home in the presence of
 DC> family.  However, I learned over the last 7 years, it takes A LOT of
 DC> business to make a decent personal income, as a result of the business
 DC> expenses that become necessarry to meet demand if successful in the
 DC> communities eye.

The company I work for is seeking a temp, and the temp is having to go through
three interviews to ensure they fit the "company culture".  I think people that
go into HR, or offer such services over sell the important of culture, because
they don't have much else to offer.  They convince companies that it makes or
breaks them, but that is not true.  I have worked in companies with a bad
culture, and it was due to bad managers, NOT who you hire.  The best place I
worked for was the best simply because I got on well with the people I worked
with, and we took it upon ourselves to make the workplace interesting.  No
programs from HR needed.  No need for centrally dictated language guides or any
of that rubbish.  I really don't think that these attempts by companies to
shape a 'culture' have any real effect at all, and certainly, selecting people
for 'cultural fit' is just discrimination for no reason.

They simply don't want to accept the fact that if people get on well, then we
don't need this ruling elite to shape our culture with their wisdom, their
'flavour of the day' ideologies and their control.

.... Dennis Katsonis
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
 * Origin: The Dungeon BBS Canberra, Australia. (3:712/620)

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