New Job

Surprisingly, a friend told me a couple days ago that they miss my blog when I don't post for a while. I haven't posted for 6 weeks or so.  I know it is hard to believe that somebody misses my blog, but if I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I would not have believed it myself.  So I immediately began thinking of something to write about.  I have intentionally avoided political posts after realizing that I probably offend a few friends and family, but that can't continue too much longer.  The political current events are calling me.

For now, just accept that I still believe Barack Obama has solidified his place as the worst president in American history, liberal progressives (the democrats) are the vermin in American politics, and I will have more to say on these beliefs soon.  On a lighter note, I have a new job and the atmosphere is so unlike anything I have recently experienced, I will take a few minutes to describe it.

Remember where I came from.  My prior position was with a foreign-owned company that had no clue of how to keep an American workforce happy.  Their belief is that if you pay a competitive wage and offer good benefits, your employees will be loyal and happy no matter how often they are beaten.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  If employees are not made to feel valuable, if innovation is stifled, if bureaucracy rules and there is little to no autonomy, the work environment will become toxic and morale will submarine.  I know because I worked at that place for almost 6 years.

Without forgiving them, I will say I understand why they do stupid things.  They are part of a service business with ever increasing pressure to do more work for less money.  Knowing they could be replaced, they automatically agree to doing more for less whenever asked.  It's not a sustainable business model, but some publicly held companies only think of the next earnings release.  The result was that as a manager, I was repeatedly asked to motivate a workforce that was asked to perform heroic efforts daily, with no reward system.  The executive leadership would pass mandates down to management and let it be known that we should salute or be replaced.  In March, I left behind the most frustrating job I ever held.

Then after a 4 month "sabbatical" and PTSD recovery period, I stepped out of a time machine. Nearly everything I remember from my 15 year career in cable TV (19 years ago) was different in the cable TV world of 2015.  The technology had advanced by an order of magnitude, the company had evolved into what appears to be a well run corporate entity with mature HR and financial tools, and a host of support organizations that did not exist way back when.  And even though the new company is shareholder-owned, they don't seem to behave as if the next earnings announcement is the only priority.  Revenue and margins are healthy, and good projects get funded with minimal effort.

I haven't seen a single example of onerous expense control.  I have traveled twice with only cursory approvals.  I spent nearly a half million dollars in my fourth week justified only by my need for manpower to produce results.  I posted three job openings, then expanded it to 5 as an opportunity presented itself.  My only effort was to describe the need and the strategy to my leadership chain.

The result of this environment has been that a program the company had talked about implementing since 2007 is now making substantial progress.  All that was required of them is autonomy and resources, something that did not exist in the prior job.

Will my working bliss continue?  Who knows.  A lot is changing.  We expect to be purchased early next year by another cable company, and that is an obvious unknown.  But my mindset has also changed.  Regardless of my negative experience in the prior job, I know that all companies are not as clueless nor as constrained as my previous employer was.  Time will tell, but for now, leaving my prior job and accepting my new job were great decisions.