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by caminante
1740 days ago
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>I have to remind them in every meeting.[...]But this was normal behavior. I was the odd person who thought this was unacceptable. For perspective, this is typical LargeCorp behavior, especially at a company like Intel which makes 77 billion/year in revenues (700k/employee) at a 25% net income margin! The unwritten rule is that managers aren't incentivized to police this behavior. It's liberating to recognize this and modify one's approach. > Oh, and coming to meetings unprepared is the norm. No one will read your emails briefing them about the meeting ahead of time.
>A senior person once told me "You explained things too well[...] If they have trouble understanding it, they'll be in awe." Wise words. In cultures that do this, you have to adapt and work more on narrative/story-telling. In many ways, this is how things actually work no matter how efficient you think you're making the team. Instead, write the same emails, but only to gather your thoughts. Then, lead the discussion. In large teams, it feels like this approach reminds me to avoid doing someone else's work. |
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Unless it is the manager who has to constantly do the reminding. Then there is swift policing :-)
Yes, this is actually normal "human" behavior. But this level of extreme was ridiculous, even within Intel. I quickly left the team once the project was over. Life is too short.
> Wise words. In cultures that do this, you have to adapt and work more on narrative/story-telling.
Narrative/story telling is good, but is orthogonal to the issue here. The usual flow is to use narrative/story telling to explain the why (motivation, etc). However, some senior management will expect you to also talk about the details. And this is where the advice came in: "Put the details, and make sure they don't understand them." My sin was that I was presenting the details in a manner where they could understand it (without losing the nuances and details - I was mere presenting the same material "well").
A more severe example will enlighten: I once solved a challenging problem with a really simple solution. My manager had multiple sessions with me to coach me on how to present that simple solution in a much more complex way. He emphasized that senior management should not realize that the solution was simple - no matter how impactful it was.
Yes - this is also a general "human" problem, and is common in lots of places. However, when you're striving to be the best company in X, it is wise not to settle for "average".