A stupid boilerplate phrase to ask employees still haunts me from years ago, when Glen Miller, the then director of the Orange County Library system posed it for me during a review: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
I came back with the wrong rejoinder: Where do you see ME 5 years from now? His answer, doing the same thing you're doing now....
He was wrong, and he was wrong for both of us. The reason it still haunts me is because of how wrong he was.
I left my job of 22 years and left for a whole different field, working for a company that promised a revolving door of staff coming and going, and included in that promise that no matter what, it wasn't going to be boring.
Glen Miller? He ended up retiring soon after that, under fire from his board, and died from a heart attack only one year into his retirement. It was a huge lesson to me, that when we predict the future, we are mostly saying things will continue on just like they are now...even though we know better.
Essentially, the difference for 2014, is that I would not even dare to predict 6 months into the future. I really have no idea of what is coming except some exciting times, sleepless nights, and the sureness that no matter what...it won't be boring..
No comments:
Post a Comment