Have you ever worked for a company that thinks it is the “sun?” That everything and everyone’s world revolves around it? The best thing since sliced bread? So great, in fact, that they can treat everyone inside and out of the company like second-class citizens? You know the type. These companies scour the web daily for any ounce of a mention because they are just that self-centered. These companies have so little clout in their industry that they simply must fabricate "a buzz'" so the constant turnstile of employee turnover slows down to a twirl versus a screaming vortex. This is the type of company that will publicly humiliate themselves by attempting to underhandedly “dis” their competition, but to the rest of the world, to people who actually live in reality and understand business, their attempts are completely transparent and pathetic. I hear of these companies all too often from candidates, friends and colleagues alike and it amazes me that these employers are still in business.
It is possible for a company to have an ego but just like everything else, it comes from the top down. If the owner of the company is a self-serving, ego-maniacal sociopath, the company begins taking on the same characteristics. With every new hire, it’s like drinking the Kool-Aid. If you repeat something enough times, and subliminally infiltrate people’s minds and thoughts, employees sometimes actually begin to believe the bullshit they are being fed. And then it begins; the egotism spreads like a virus, or a fungus, which is usually what the proprietors of these companies are. The funniest thing after leaving a company after an AB offense (attempted brainwashing,) you begin to see how the rest of the world sees them. It’s like a multi-step program. For a moment, you are sad. “Jeeze, was I really associated with those douche-bags?” Then, you are mad. “I can’t believe I ever worked for those douche-bags!” Finally, you are satisfied, content and down-right joyful. “God, I am SO glad I don’t work there anymore.”
Being on the outside looking in, after leaving a company that is so painfully self-unaware or torturously dysfunctional, is like being with the Ghost of Christmas Past looking through a window as a spectator to your old life. It can present a chuckle, thanking your lucky stars as you are now in a much better place. Or it can give you a shiver, for those left behind and those still yet to come. Either way you look at it, the best part is that it is an outsider’s perspective (key syllable OUT) and sometimes that is the best place to be to see the truth.
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