I am the type of person that advocates change. I’m very opinionated, and while I don’t expect everyone to always agree with me, I do expect them to try to see things from my point of view (as I do for them). This can be a tough personality trait to have when it comes having a corporate job. There are many benefits and many downsides to a corporate career, and I don’t plan to go into all of them here, but how do you balance your personal opinion with the financial needs of yourself and your family? Sometimes it can be a hard balance to find and it causes stress not only in your workplace, but at home as well. These are some of the emotions that I’m currently going through at my job, and it hasn’t been easy for the past couple of months.
One of the hardest things for me to deal with is to work for someone that doesn’t understand what I go through on a daily basis. Throughout my career this has been one of the things that has caused me to look elsewhere for better positions, and a big driving factor in me deciding to get my MBA instead of a Master’s degree in my technical discipline. I decided that I wanted to be a good manager that understood, since I felt that they are lacking throughout our workforce. Anyway, in my current position I think my manager is a decent guy. I think he tries to understand, but he just really doesn’t. I’ve been one of the more vocal members of my team, just due to my natural personality, and I’ve used that to be as open and honest with him about things that are going on, and challenges that we have within the team. The problem is that sometimes those messages just don’t get through, and the nonchalant manner that he dismisses them only brings down the team even more.
Over the past few weeks I’ve grown increasingly more frustrated with my situation and I’ve started to let it affect my attitude at work. This is very disappointing to me because having a great attitude has always been one of my biggest strengths. What’s worse is that it’s basically a lose-lose situation for me. I’m frustrated with my job situation, and it’s making me perform at an even lower level. That makes it even harder for me to be happy in my situation as I’m less likely to get promotions or raises, and it even raises the risk of damaging my reputation at work and making it harder for me to move elsewhere in the near future. Analyzing all this, it’s obvious that I’m going to have to bite the bullet, swallow my pride, and just go through the pain for a little while with a smile on my face. As much as I hate to do that, it’s what is necessary for the ultimate goal of taking care of my family and getting me to where I want to go in my career.
There are a lot of things that go on in the corporate world, and a lot of them will be things that you don’t enjoy. Whether it’s office politics, a bad manager, closed door decision-making that leaves you wondering, or a plethora of other things…you have to be able to take it in stride to achieve your ultimate goal. It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and just want out of it, but make sure that you don’t make any rash decisions in the heat of your frustration. Take it for what it is, and in my case it’s an opportunity to work at a great company and provide a good life for my family. As unhappy as I am where I’m currently at, I need to make the best of it for the time being in order to ensure my continued progression and success in my career. I don’t want to jeopardize all that I’ve worked for up to this point because of one short-sighted manager. Going through the pain a little now will hopefully open doors for me to do an even better job as a manager for someone else in the future.
