Imagine the following: We’re stuck in a dead end job with what must be the world’s worst bosses. In fact they’re so bad to us that they feel like real slave drivers. And to make matters worse, we’re working at one of the most successful companies in the world so leaving it almost seems worse than staying put.
Then, by some miracle (let’s say ten), terrible things start happening to our bosses and our company. Things get so bad that almost against their will and better judgement they have to let us go.
After what seems like a forty year job search we find a new job, working at an amazing company that’s run by the world’s best leaders. We feel incredibly lucky and grateful to have reached the promised land.
End of story? Not so fast.
After all, there was that interminably long job search, wasn’t there? Do we simply file it away as a painful experience that we’re better off glossing over…if not forgetting altogether? Nope. Not if we’re smart. Not if we acquired some wisdom along the way.
What did we learn during that long struggle? Did we acquire new skills? Did we grow our network from a ragtag tribe into a robust ecosystem? Did we become more disciplined and tougher? Did we substitute wishful thinking with rational optimism?
Are we now ready to leave behind the bad habits and unproductive patterns we accrued in our last job? Are we ready to bring fresh thinking and emotional intelligence to our new team that’s unencumbered by self-defeating defense mechanisms?
Are we, at last, ready to write our own story?