Reply #47: My boss always went around the system and he threatened to quit many times.

[AnArmyVeteran]

He kept in his top desk drawer a resignation letter and when he didn't get what he needed to do his job and deliver a product to a customer he would pull out that letter and tell the company they were going to lose him, his expertise and his long success record. He was a true 'maverick'. And he only hired people into his group who thought just like he did as far as going against the flow to get the job done.

We had the most productive and brilliant team in the company and he knew he had the power to turn the tables on management and win. He was a great student of psychology and that was one of the skills he used to get the job done for the customer. I really miss working for that team. We were the hardest working, brightest and close knit group ever. We all had interlocking jobs so we all depended on each other for our group and individual success. And even though we put in 12 hours a day, or sometimes a lot more, we also took liberties like take long lunches if we wanted to. He had a sailboat called "On Sight", which meant in NASA lingo that if you were 'on sight' you were at NASA. So all he had to do was tell everyone there was a meeting 'on sight' and we would all show up at his sailboat, even during a work day. We were, by far, the most productive group in the entire company and our customers were always thrilled with the products we produced for them. (It was offensive when the company put HR in charge of teaching us how to be more productive since not one of them ever produced a product for a customer or even worked for a customer. And yet the company spent millions on their 'plans of the month' (like TQMS) when they could have used that money to give people better salaries.

Management must of had constant seizures because we rarely followed their corporate rules, but it didn't matter because we felt like we were working for the customer, not them. Pleasing the customer was the purpose of our job. We did it better than anyone...


Side note: Later in that same company after a big change in management morale was destroyed. I found a book that described their tactics perfectly in "Worker Abuse". My wife was a teacher, a totally different profession, but the things in that book how workers are manipulated is the same in any profession. When we read that book we both felt validated about the feelings we had. I called and talked to one of the authors and I told him his book would make a great documentary. I was about to start working on the project when a tragedy struck our family and I gave up plans. But it would still be a great documentary. I haven't seen any other program address the systematic abuse that is going through almost every industry. The book is fascinating to anyone who has been a victim of work abuse. All the best...