If you’re hard to classify, we can't count on you to repeat yourself

August 08, 2017 1:25 PM

I’ve applied for thousands of jobs in hundreds of different industries, and there isn’t a single organization that isn’t claiming to be looking for a:

Risk taking, entrepreneurial minded, independent thinking, passionately curious, highly creative change agent to challenge the status quo and disrupt the industry forever.

Of course, the first moment an unconventional resume lands on the human resources desk, all of that posturing goes out the window.

Because the ultimate goal of the organization is to subjugate people’s creativity and drive employees to be transactional. The individual is the instrument, not the purpose.

Companies aren’t in the business of helping people manifest their deepest potential. They don’t actually want anything new or different. And it’s certainly not in their best interest to encourage innovation.

Parkinson’s provocative article about the paradox of business strategy said it best:

Companies know they have to deal with innovation, but they don’t actually want to encourage it. What they value is managed evolution. Homeostasis with incremental change for the better.

And so, job applications are just one of the many examples of companies paying lip service to the idea of creativity, while secretly wanting employees to show up, shut up and do their jobs.

I have a friend who used to work for a major record label. And their policy for signing new artists was:

You better know your genre, because if you’re hard to classify, we can’t count on you to repeat yourself.

It’s a perfect microcosm for how modern business works.

Which isn’t to say you should give up on your passion for innovative ideas.

But don’t knock yourself out trying to let the organization know about it.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Is your position as a creative visionary working to your disadvantage?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.