How to destroy a Career!

This is a story about a young professional, a star performer, a potential future leader and how he destroyed his career...

He joined the company when he was fresh out of college. He was enthusiastic, quick witted, lively and knowledgeable. He joined the company with 14 others, within a week, they voted for him to be their representative, they gave him a nickname "Captain". This incident was noticed by the company management.

Captain topped in all assignments during the Induction Program and quickly grew in popularity. All the Project Managers wanted Captain in their teams. At the time of Project Assignments, the Resource Allocation Team gave him the option of choosing his own project, a rare distinction. Captain evaluated all available projects and chose his project.

Quickly Captain won accolades from other team members, he was faster than most others, would take just about 60% of the allocated time to complete an assignment, would move on to the next one as soon as he would finish his current task. The Project Manager was having a tough time keeping Captain "busy" with interesting assignments.

The next 3 years went by quickly, Captain was promoted to be a Team Leader.

One fine day, a senior in the team asked Captain, "why are you working so hard? Are they paying you too much?" --- this got Captain thinking. He was flabbergasted. The question made a lot of sense. He starting seeing other people around him, they were leaving at 6:30 PM, they were enjoying their lives, he realized that he was one of the first to come in to office, and the last to leave. He was doing almost 40% of the project all by himself, while people who were senior to him and who were getting better salaries than him, were getting away by contributing much lesser.

Captain started losing interest, his work hours were getting lesser and lesser, his efficiency suffered, he would come in at 9:30 AM and would be out the door at 6:30 PM. He was only doing what was being assigned. He was able to finish the assignment in 60% of the time, but never reported the completion of the task to the Manager before the deadline. In the spare time, Captain would chat with friends, browse the internet and while away time in the cafeteria. The story does not end here. Captain's interest fell further and his tasks were averaging a delay of 25% each time.

The Manager stopped giving interesting assignments to Captain, he stopped relying on him for delivery, his team was now reporting to someone else, Captain was reduced to a team member's role.

Captain started bad mouthing the company policies, he said that the Management does not know how to take care of loyal employees and his "own version" of the story of why he was demoted to a team member's role, he said it was because, his Manager was considering him a threat and so on.

Captain was fired after 4 years of service with the company.

Summarizing Captain's story;

Step 1: Captain listened to and more importantly, believed a manipulative senior, 
Step 2: compared his contributions and salary with others', then lost interest in the work, 
Step 3: started wasting time and subsequently introducing unnecessary delays in the task, 
Step 4: lost out to others in the team for being more reliable, was demoted, 
Step 5: then he started bad mouthing the Manager, the Management and the Company Policies. 

This is how Captain initiated and architected his own downfall, but somehow, it was the Manager's fault.... he did not realize that his career was his responsibility and not his Manager's or the Organization's.

What captain did not realize is that;

• A negative talker has a ulterior, sinister and selfish motives. He should have reported the incident to the Management immediately.
• By working harder, he was the one who was amassing experience, what others taking 1 year to achieve, Captain was achieving in 0.6 years.
• It is unfair to compare one's salary to some one else's in the company. What one gets is what he/she deserves. One who is "underpaid and more productive" has a better chance to survive a layoff than the one who is "overpaid and under-productive". The same applies to getting a new job as well.
• Wasting time and introducing un-necessary delays on a task is a sin!, it is our duty to report the completion of a task as soon as it is done and move on to the next task.
• Bad mouthing the Management and Company policies is a crime. If one has a problem with a policy, then one should contact the Human Resources Department Representative or the Project Manager and not vent "feelings" in the Cafeteria with other employees. 

Resistance and Negative Motivation

While I was studying Electrical Engineering for my Bachelor's Degree, I came across the concept called "Resistance". I learnt that Electricity flows through the path with the least resistance. The key word here is "Least Resistance".

When I apply this concept to human beings, it applies straight on!.

"People do not want to do difficult things".... "People don't want to do anything at all!".

Not only people want to be in the state of least resistance, meaning, they don't want to work hard, they even don't want to see others working hard, so, they prevent others from working.

These people also expect the best work conditions and the best pay for doing nothing. When they don't get what they want, they will complain that the "system is wrong !", "the management does not know what they are doing !", "if this continues, the company is sure to sink !", "the Manager gave you only 4 hours for a 16 hour task? do they think we are machines?", "the Manager does not have any experience in this subject!".

I am surprised when I come across individuals who say these words, it's ridiculous.


Buddy, do you even know what you are talking about? If you have seen something wrong in the system, have you ever tried to escalate the matter and suggested what can be possibly done to change the system? If  you know how to run a company, then why don't you start your own? Do you know what it takes to get to the Manager's position, leave alone commenting on what he/she knows or does not know? 


The above questions result in lame excuses and not answers: "my words will not have any impact!", "I am just a programmer here, why will they listen to me?", "no one will give me a loan to start my own company", "I have all skills to become a Manager, give me a chance and I will prove it!". The truth is that, this person does not even want to try, he/she wants a chance without having to work for it and earn it.


The principle of "Least Resistance" in people fuels the urge to "Negatively Motivate" others. More and more people get negatively motivated because it is very simple, very convincing and appeals to an individual's "heart" more than his "brain". All the education, all the learnings of knowing the "right" from the "wrong" goes out the window....

We now have a part of an organization that is "cancerous" and presents the risk spreading rapidly and killing an organization if not "treated" quickly and appropriately.

Who can treat this disease? .... Answer is: PEOPLE or EMPLOYEES.

People must differentiate the bad from the good. It's hard to identify a disgruntled employee or the reason of the disgruntlement, but the least an individual can do is UNDERSTAND the following points;

1. Your contribution is directly proportional to your growth in the company.
2. Trying and failing is better than not trying at all. Every trial, whether successful or failed, has a lesson to offer, it depends on you, whether you choose to learn or not.
3. If you find someone talking negative or complaining, compare this person's achievements and experience to yours. If that person has more experience then please ignore the negative comments. The company may be willing to tolerate this Negative Motivator for some time due to his/her past contributions and may be willing to give this person another chance to turn around. If you try to negatively motivate someone else and if you have not earned a good reputation as yet then you don't stand a chance. Use your maturity, if someone asks you to steal, hurt someone or jump traffic signals, what will you do? 
4. Not contributing to your organization, is BAD. Complaining why you cannot contribute or reasoning for your failure to contribute is WORSE. Preventing someone else from contributing is A DISASTROUS and will never be tolerated.

I am left with the thought "There are a hundred people who can tell why something cannot be done. A leader is one who says, it can be done and tries. It is he who will make difference to the world."