Tuesday, April 05, 2011

"Whatever it takes to get the job done!"

From a lengthy LinkedIn series of comments about slogans popular at a place where I used to work.

Maintain an attitude of healthy discontent. Get all the liars in one room. Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way. That’s red suspenders!. EDS will never do anything that is immoral, illegal or unethical. So if you see something that you think is illegal, immoral or unethical, you simply don't have all of the facts. There is a good business reason for everything that EDS does. We can't always tell you the reason but we have to trust our leaders. If you see a problem, then you own it. Work hard and EDS will take care of you. You see a snake, you kill it. You don't form a committee on snakes . Legendary Customer Satisfaction. "Where people make the difference". Ask for forgiveness, not permission. Bad news does not improve with age. Spend company money as if it were your own! Value and respect the individual. Strive to attract and retain the most outstanding people. Lead so the best love it. There are no problems; just opportunities. Leaders are not obligated to perpetuate foolishness. Just do what makes sense. At EDS, you can do anything you want, you just have to be willing to move!

It wasn't all good, and, in reading the comments, I recalled how much truly sucked -- death marches, for example, where people routinely worked all day, slept in their office, and returned to work; relying on the group's manager to decide if you should get time off, a raise, the chance to do something different; how 'opportunity' meant ' here is something I doubt you can do, but we need it done, so go run up against that wall until it breaks or you do ' -- but somehow, even the things that sucked, in a company where you really believed you were the best, were tolerable. As one commenter put it:

EDS was a fun place to work in the beginning, with (mostly) appreciative clients, and competent management.

Yeah. It was.

No comments: