the feeling of falling behind
It's been getting difficult to write lately, I confess.
Partly, this could be a result of fatigue from work and the variety of challenges life throws at you. Partly, it could be because sometimes we just want to take a break. Maybe, at times, we want to redefine our purpose.
I chose the feature image of this post because that's what it's sometimes like. Between all the thoughts that is going on in our heads of which many are incomprehensible even to ourselves, we need a medium to convey our thoughts. This post here is somewhat like that - a writing of reflections. A medium to place our recurrent thoughts.
Viktor Frankl, in his survival of the Auschwitz, developed the hypothesis of existenstial vacuum through the observation that prisoners who kept fighting to live (despite the crazy conditions) was able to do because they found meaning in suffering. Sometimes writing a post can feel like a punishment. Wouldn't it just feel much better to go out and have some fun, pick up my favorite game and dribble it to the end? But if writing the post can help me find clarity, wouldn't it be better to simply do it?
Hence, one of my most favourite quotes is this one:
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are (have been) avoiding
Originally attributed to write and digital creator Dipen Parmar in 2019, the fundamental concept came from Joseph Campbell, "the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek", and the famous psychologists, Carl Jung, that growth requires integrating the shadow, facing aspects of our life and mind that we naturally resist or repress.
Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, offers a clean philosophical hook - that people don't work hard because discomfort is absent, instead they work hard when motivators like achievement, recognition, and growth are present. Maslow's hierarchy suggests that we're psychologically wired to secure safety and belonging before we can move towards self-actualisation.
In my interview of 576 professionals in the life sciences industry (unpublished), 68% of technical people left their previous role over poor recognition and leadership. My hypothesis largely relied on the idea that "discomfort" is often social and psychological (eg fear of being unsupported when something goes wrong) rather than the technical work itself. Instead, technical people, defined by their background (engineers.. scientists..), share a strong desire to report to servant leaders. They reject Transformational Leaders (TL) that 'inspire with style', and rather respect Servant Leaders (SL) more because a leader's hands-on credibility and direct relationship is far more important to them.
When people were given room to reshape work around personal meaning, engagement rose. The ability of a leader to give that room - largely rely on their own expertise. It thus made sense that a sales leader naturally leads a sales team, through a transformation leadership style, and likewise, a technical leader naturally leads a technical team, through a servant leadership style. Yet many organisations bring in consultants, and leaders with absolutely divergent backgrounds, to become managers and leaders. I give a fairly stoic comment here - that ultimately these organisations become a transactional one. It becomes just another workplace.
Now, if you are reading this and you are of a highly technical background, and your aim in joining a big corporate (dark side) is to progress into a different kind of role such as business or marketing, what kind of leader would you look up to? Would you prefer to report to someone that has domain knowledge of your field? Or report to someone that is completely different, e.g. from a pure sales background?
Likewise, if you are a sales or marketing background and started to report to someone highly technical.. what does it mean for you ?
Or if you are now a VP of a big team, and finding doubts about your leadership style, or you found that people have stopped listening to you.. what is wrong? The answer might be more complex than you think..
