Cufflinks Don’t Mean I’m Cuffed
Dear Corporations,
On my flight to the west coast, I sat between two employees of the same health care company. If I was CEO, after the 5 hour flight, I would have known who to fire, who to promote, what divisions to grow, and which ones to eliminate. If I was CEO of one of your competitors, I would have known how to strategically bury your company within the next 3 years and who on your staff to hire to help me do it.
Your employees know everything!
1. They know who’s creating value and who’s not
2. They know why you’re hot and why you’re not
3. They know your customers and your customers know them
Why don’t you listen to them? The suggestion box in the janitor’s closet doesn’t count.
Where do you create space for employees to be entrepreneurial? Just because you’re in the black this year doesn’t mean that you exploited every opportunity available.
Why can’t you retain your best talent? There are cells of employees getting ready to leave because they feel as if you’re not open to their ideas.
Do you have the courage to facilitate the open honest conversations internally that only take place in the bathroom, at the water cooler, or at happy hour?
Do you want to own your employees or do you want them to own you?
You think the US divorce rates are high? Well…you haven’t signed a contract with us. Just because we wear cuff links doesn’t mean you’ve got us cuffed. It’s not that we’re noncommittal, we just value freedom and the ability to create, whether we’re an entrepreneur or intrapreneur. We’re nothing like our grandparents and our parents who sought the security of working for one company for their entire life.
It’s time to explore new organizational models and accept the fact that the concept of life-time employment no longer exists and see corporations as talent development centers, kind of like colleges…but better. Corporations (and colleges) will no longer be valued for their financial packages. Instead, they will be valued for what their alumni achieve upon leaving. Look at PayPal’s former employees that went on to found YouTube, Linked-In, and Yelp.
The answers to your success are within (your own company).
Sincerely,
Millennials
Inspired by Dee Hock, founder of VISA and author of One From Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaoridc Organizations
