After quitting his job, a friend made an odd comment. He said,
"It’s weird when you realize that none of it is real."
His observation stuck me as both profoundly true and maddeningly confusing. Like a riddle that you flip over in your mind trying to find the key, once the idea takes hold you can’t stop thinking about it.
How can a job not be real? Offices are real, meetings are real, paychecks are real, morning commutes are real, deadlines are real. Sure, some companies offer better jobs than others, but they are all real.
Or are they? It’s just as easy to see those things as illusions, tiny lies that prop up the big con – a delusion shared by entire organizations that the company is worth investing yourself in. As long as we all applaud at the all-hands meeting the charade can continue. That’s not real.
But then again it sure feels real. You put in the hours and things happen. There seem to be real consequences for the decisions that are or aren’t made. One way or another things are always changing. So it has to be real, right?
And yet you look around and you see such a wide variety of companies. Some seem alive and vibrant, full of meaning and purpose. Others are dull, lifeless holes where talented people become invisible, trapped in jobs that aren’t real.
Back and forth, real or fake, true or false...
It seems that only in hindsight in the weeks, months, and years after you leave a job can you have any perspective. Maybe the time was meaningful, worthy of the years you invested. Maybe it was a waste and you wonder why you couldn’t see the illusion at the time.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to tell if your job was real right now? How can you tell if you are drinking the corporate Kool-Aid or if you are actually making a difference? Here’s the secret...
There are only two things that make a job real. One is relationships and the other is execution. You have to have them both. You have to grow with the people you work with and you have to figure out how to ship high quality work. Good people who produce good work. Nothing else matter because nothing else is real. Nothing. That means...
Processes aren’t real. Logos aren’t real. Data isn’t real. Original ideas aren’t real. Software isn’t real. Job titles aren’t real. Org charts aren’t real. Competitors aren’t real. Products aren’t real. Research isn’t real. Intellectual property isn’t real. Deadlines aren’t real. Politics aren’t real. Legal agreements aren’t real. Company stock isn’t real. Promotions aren’t real. On and on...
Let me put it in terms that don’t make me sound quite so insane. Yes, all that junk might exist, and maybe some of those things are immovable objects. But they are all by-products of talk. They are concepts we invented, ideas that won our minds by consensus. And because those things are just ideas they can change. What we think is real can change. How? Good people doing good work will change them.
Every day we choose where to invest our energy. If you are spending that energy on anything, ANYTHING, other than on relationships and execution your job might not be as real as you thought. But surround yourself with good people who can produce good work and you will look back at today with pride because you are making a difference.
Thanks for reading. If this essay bent your reality slightly, consider following me because I try to write every Saturday. Stay creative.
Previous: The 40-Year-Old Version