tune out the pollyannas
Martine left a start-up company on very good terms with everybody – a move vital for her future career - but she did not have the heart to give the real reason for her departure, which was that the whole business was run by Pollyannas and was doomed."Staying in a doomed job is not something a smart woman does!" laughs Martine. “They were nice people, but they were just Pollyannas and out of touch with reality."
"They had a dream and just could not see what I saw,” explains Martine. “I saw the Emperor's clothes. I didn’t want to burst their bubble and I didn’t want to be around when the company went broke - which it did three months after I left."
"When I started with that company," says Martine, "I was enthused. It was new, the product was amazing, and the enthusiasm was contagious. The CEO was a human dynamo, and never stopped talking about how wonderful everything is and how much money everyone is going to make. Just work hard guys, stick with me and I'll make you all millionaires before the year is up. Sounds great, doesn't it?"
"Actually," laughs Martine, "it didn't just sound great it sounded too good to be true, and when things sound too good to be true they invariably are."
"After a while," says Martine, "I felt uncomfortable with all this talk. Something was not right. I was required to work back late at nights and come in weekends, too. I wanted to believe in the company, but everyone seemed to be going around in circles accomplishing nothing. My inner guidance was telling me something was wrong, and I acted accordingly but my co-workers didn’t."
"They had as many misgivings as I had," explains Martine, "but they chose to ignore their feelings in favor of rationalizing the CEO's behavior. He is under stress. He really does know what he is talking about. Soon there will be a light at the end of this black tunnel. You know what rationalizations are? People make them every day and live to regret them, right?"
“Well, I tuned out the Pollyanna stuff and decided to quit and I’m glad I did.”
Read more by Martine on this issue:
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