Page 26 - Sorry, We're Not Hiring Any Visionaries Today

SORRY, WE’RE NOT HIRING ANY VISIONARIES TODAY
I had worked for this highly coveted marketing job. Once I got there, it was a complete and utter disaster. I worked in production most of the time. I had to chase down numbers and figure out how to change the actual graphics of a cassette LP or CD from an overseas number to a Canadian one. I had to chase after people all day doing this highly exacting work. One guy I worked with was an alcoholic and, after lunch, barely functioned.
Some people there were just really nasty pieces of work. A lot of it was data- driven and analysis-driven because we sold products, not music. There wasn’t much joy in my workplace. Occasionally I came up with a promotional idea, but it was clearly not my job 95% of the time.
I wound up firing myself or getting fired after a year. I went from September to September. From there, I had a lacklustre career in sales. I was the worst Xerox salesperson on the team. I went from sales job to sales job, thinking that things would turn out better. They never did until exactly 16 years later, when I quit my day job to publish Concrete Wave full-time in October 2003.
This is a good example of destructive management. The job description was poorly thought out, and so consequently, the selection process was a poor result. The consequences of this poor management decision resulted in a destructive pattern of self-talk that lasted years.
Andrew, how was your career up until the age of 57?
ANDREW: That’s an interesting story. I graduated in 1988 with a degree in Graphic Communications Management. It allowed me to get jobs in the print- ing industry. I worked as a production coordinator, someone who manages the different stages of print production, from design, layout, and typography, to plate-making, printing, binding, and finishing. It’s very intricate, detailed work, which was a match with my personality.
I quickly realized the danger of this work is that if you make a mistake, and I did make mistakes, it’s very costly because the whole print job has to be re- printed. And that’s eventually why I was fired.
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