When an employee announces that they have moved to a new job, they are praised for ”doing well.” When an employer fires many so that others can remain paid and customers can get service, they are hardly praised. People tell them what they could have done. Why not for employees?

If people come out to say that they are unhappy with their current job or that they want more, it is almost expected that most people will encourage them to leave. A friend came to me with same story and I made him realize that he was part of the people making his company suck.

He came up with a thousand reasons why he should leave but not one why he should stay. I asked him why he had stayed at all for that long? He said that he hoped things would get better. I asked what he did to make things change? He said he was (I quote verbatim) ”doing his job”.

He did only his job for 5 years and learned. Now, someone else was hiring him for the training he got all that time. He will go there and do the same thing and leave for another place or get fired. That seems to be the binary outcome of what people term as ”careers.”

I asked him to tell me the biggest thing he did to make a difference at his current job to change the company for good? He said again ”it is not my company, so why should I kill myself?”

He never tried to ”kill himself” for the company. Everyone there had the same culture too.

I asked if he would ”kill himself” for the new company he was going to as they would pay more? He said ”If they treat me well.”

I asked, ”who is they? You will be part of management as you have always been.” It was at that moment he realized that he was part of the problem.

A culture is created by the people within it. A culture of keeping quiet when things go to shit is a culture which you helped create. A culture of hiding after being scolded is a culture both parties are part of. I respect people who take a principled stand because I did the same

I was the first person hired through the interview process for Econet Wireless Nigeria (now Airtel) but I declined the offer. I declined because what we agreed in the interview wasn't what was put in the offer letter. I was given excuses and I told them no. I knew more.

I knew that the person heading the company at that time wasn't a truthful person and he was playing games. I knew because I had already worked for free to set the company up because of my family. I knew because I structured loans to keep the company alive and paid the first rent.

I didn't want to be part of living a lie. Many employees know a lot more and they remain part of the lie. I see this, especially in banks. It is like a Ponzi scheme where you get the rewards at the next level and get other dispensable people to create what pays for your perks.

Many years later, when a new company took over and many of those who were hired at Airtel were let go, some came to me to look for jobs. The problem was that they were already used to the Ponzi scheme of corporate employment which we call a ”career.” I told them to keep looking.

Several of them have had at least 5 different jobs since then. Were all those companies bad too??