Individuality

Having been in the workforce for 30 years I have been in and out of quite a few companies. One of the things that constantly amaze me is that all of these companies want people to think of new and innovative ways save money, solve problems, etc. and yet at the same time they punish individuality and independent thought. One of the more ironic things that I see is when companies celebrate their ethnic diversity, at the same time as they are trying to eliminate all intellectual diversity.

Part of the problem of course is that uniformity is easier to manage, so managers want uniformity even if that is at odds with the long term growth of the company. As I have said before, managers are paid for short term results and not long term.

Another part of the problem stems from the animal part of the human brain. In a herd/troup/gaggle of animals different often means diseased, so the different animal is kept apart from the group for the long term good of the group. So while the upper levels of our minds know that different is good the lower more animal parts still view the different individual with suspicion.

I have seen small but good companies fail because during the growth process they shed themselves of all of their harder to manage people. These were of course the very same people that had made the company a success. In most cases the company went on for another year or two then failed. One company did continue longer, but without its innovators it became yet another mediocor company, surviving but not growing.

I often hope to find some company that looks to the long term, one that recognizes the worth of individuals that are different. I haven't found it yet, but I keep hoping.