One line in a book summarised an image of corporate life I’d heard in many of the 1500 interviews over the last decade of my former head-hunting career. This version of work life contrasts sharply with the way I’ve designed my work today. WARNING: it’s not for everyone…

What was the last non-fiction book you read that made you laugh out loud, alone in a room?

The other night, while thinking about business growth strategies, I began to re-read Crossing the Chasm by Geoff Moore. 15 minutes in, I guffaw-snort-laughed aloud.

A story I read in this book epitomises one area of corporate life I don’t miss.

On page 29 of this old, but very relevant book (Inc. Magazine’s Top 10 Marketing books of all time) there’s a story, a parable, about a start-up that grows fast by selling to early adopters.

Year One: Sales pick up in all the right places. They celebrate their early wins at the Christmas party in the office where everyone brings along some nibbles and drinks from plastic cups.
Year Two: Sales continue to rise from the early adopters and a few big deals are landed. They think they’ve made it and this year’s Christmas party is showered with premium quality wine, crystal glasses and all the accoutrements of a successful, young business.
Year 3: Big new offices are secured, sales teams multiply like rabbits and operations teams bulk out. Then sales tank half way through the year and seem to be heading into a slump at the end of Q3.

Fingers get pointed at the product guys. They claim they did what they were asked and hit every single deadline. The Exec team starts finger pointing at the sales teams. Then marketing get hauled over the coals.

According to the Exec team, "Everyone is shit”.

No…correction…"Everyone else is shit”.

The long-awaited final quarter results are released - they’re dismal.

Then…

“It’s time to whip the slaves.”

This was the line that cracked me up.

And then silenced me.

It hit a nerve.

Corporate slave-whipping - it’s no laughing matter.

After my brief unladylike guffaw, I froze in thought.

This one line offered a window into a selection of the 1500 stories corporate executives told me in interviews over the last decade of my head-hunting career.

Picture this:

The walking-wounded Directors emerge from the Game-of-Thrones-style board meetings.

They take a few quiet moments to wipe the blood from their shoes and their egos, dust themselves down before grabbing their horse-whips to pass on the beating they’d just received in the boardroom to their personal slaves…(i.e. their teams).

More sales, more work, more time, more effort…or else!

Sound familiar?

Of course, that story is not the story of every major corporate.

Of course, none of you behave in this way currently.

Of course, none of you behaved like this in the past.

Of course, when I held leadership positions within corporates, I never did that.

But ultimately where leaders have big mortgages to pay and expensive lifestyles to fund, there is little freedom for inspirational, out-of-the-box or even long-term thinking. Little freedom to motivate beyond carrot or stick if sales are tanking…and you’ve just been whipped in a meeting…something must be done…right now!

The flip-side: Being both slave and master

I walked away from corporate life in 2015. Jumped head long into a MSc Psychology. Then set up Midlife Unstuck.

One of the joys of working for myself and by myself is that there is only me to whip if sales are down - and I don’t have much of an appetite for violence!

I’m both slave and master (and I can look self-satisfied while leaning casually on a wall like the best of them!)

There’s only me to prioritise long-term thinking vs short-term numbers.

There’s only me to design the way forward…and to analyse the past.

There’s only me to hear the crickets when I post a crazy-good article that no-one reads.

There is only me to seek out inspiration for myself in weird and wonderful places.

There’s only me to dedicate time to development and growth.

There’s only me to celebrate the wins.

There’s only me to say no to the potential client that would drag my energy into the grave.

And there’s also only me to take out the bins and turn off the lights.

There’s no-one else to blame.

I am every single department.

I am both slave and master.

That’s my choice but it has taken some getting used to.

It’s not for everyone but as the years roll on, every year gets better. And different. And in some ways harder. And in some easier.

To scale or not to scale?

Someone asked me recently about my plan to scale Midlife Unstuck. It’s something I’ve thought about from the beginning. But I do want to have a bigger impact. But I want to do it in a way that is both sustainable and enjoyable.

I’ve chosen to scale and make a bigger impact by creating a programme that can reach more people. A programme that challenged me creatively, intellectually, psychologically, emotionally and physically. Why did it do it that way?

Surely it would have been easier to hire more people and train them to be career satisfaction designers?

I don’t want to hire more coaches.

Why not?

There are lots of reasons but one truth is I might have to whip them one day if they don’t make the sales that we had agreed in our forecast.

That would be a negative blast from the past.

But worse, I’d have to whip them if they don’t enjoy their work as much as I need them to!

If you liked this article you might like these:

Ready to start figuring out what your version of happy work looks like?

Two ways you can work with me:

The Fierce Emporium on-line career overhaul programme. Learn how to design the next decade of your work in a way that fits you and feels better.
Discover your Superpowers programme. Lost your work mojo. This short but intense one-to-one programme will get it back for you.

Corporate slave-whipping (and who do you whip when you work for yourself?)