Mediola: Do You Think You Should Feel Loyal To Your Company?

The short answer is no.

Lots of us are very conflicted about this. Your company and your boss demand your loyalty.

You should do everything you can to convince them that you are absolutely loyal. Never act unprofessional.

But should you feel loyal? With one exception, loyalty to your company or your boss is plain dumb.

Do you think your company is loyal to you? An amusing question, no? Do you think your boss is loyal to you? This is where the exception comes in. If you have a true mentor in the company, then you should be loyal to him/her, but not the company. To the mentor.

But in any given job, mentor or no, when the budget crunch comes, or it's cancellation time, or your unit gets sold, it's bye-byes for you. Do you think the company, in the form of HR, or some ranking executive, gives a shit? They don't. Your mentor may, but he's got to do his job, and if that means you're out, then you're out.

A good media boss will try to help his people in job searches. Since I like to name names when it comes to screw-ups, I'll mention two men who over the years have proven to be true mensches in doing what they could to help laid off employees find work: now-retired but former executive producer of 20/20 and World News Tonight Av Westin, and current Dateline NBC executive producer David Corvo.

Here's the bottom line. Your loyalty is to YOU. This topic came to mind because of a recent session with a client, who has the good fortune of working on staff (non-contract) at one of the media conglomerates with all the benefits and an annual bonus, and also has an offer on the table from a competing corporation. This fellow would be perfectly happy to stay with his current company, but the offers they've been giving him for his next step up have been somewhat more laterals, and in one case, an offer came along with a decrease in pay. Now, this guy has been showing this company that he can jump into a new job, assess what's going on, quickly develop big-picture solutions, turn them over to implementers, and move on. This guy has huge value. But because HR doesn't have appropriate opportunities open right now, he's getting antsy. So he looked around.

And along came the other offer. Now...does he tell his current employer about the competing offer? He thinks that's going to piss them off. They'll think he's betraying them. Very foolish to feel that way. Look out for #1, OK?

They've told him they're not going to let him go, but he's worried if he doesn't locate a solid move up in his company soon, they'll dump him.

Well, that's not going to happen. He's got to maneuver the two companies; he's got to come from a place of understanding that he's really in demand, and make it clear to both companies that he's got two great opportunities, and he's got to decide which is the better career move.

Using strategies like "putting air" into the process--holding off one company--stalling them--while applying strategic pressure to the other to put an equal offer on the table is critical.

Look for a third opportunity at the same time. Deal with HR as little as possible. Bond with the hiring executive as much as possible.

Do everything you can to "equalize the offers". This means putting on paper the dollar value of the offers, the benefits, the value of the jobs in moving you along your career path--every plus and minus. When you decide, your goal is that if you leave a company you've been with, you want them thinking "How did we let him go?"

A good media boss will try to help his people in job searches. Since I like to name names when it comes to screw-ups, I'll mention two men who over the years have proven to be true mensches in doing what they could to help laid off employees find work: now-retired but former executive producer of 20/20 and World News Tonight Av Westin, and current Dateline NBC executive producer David Corvo.

Here's the bottom line. Your loyalty is to YOU. This topic came to mind because of a recent session with a client, who has the good fortune of working on staff (non-contract) at one of the media conglomerates with all the benefits and an annual bonus, and also has an offer on the table from a competing corporation. This fellow would be perfectly happy to stay with his current company, but the offers they've been giving him for his next step up have been somewhat more laterals, and in one case, an offer came along with a decrease in pay. Now, this guy has been showing this company that he can jump into a new job, assess what's going on, quickly develop big-picture solutions, turn them over to implementers, and move on. This guy has huge value. But because HR doesn't have appropriate opportunities open right now, he's getting antsy. So he looked around.

They've told him they're not going to let him go, but he's worried if he doesn't locate a solid move up in his company soon, they'll dump him.

Using strategies like "putting air" into the process--holding off one company--stalling them--while applying strategic pressure to the other to put an equal offer on the table is critical.

Look for a third opportunity at the same time. Deal with HR as little as possible. Bond with the hiring executive as much as possible.

It's at these moments that a coach is handy. And guess what? You can call me at 800-247-8286 access code 87, or email me.

Dan
Go to DanCooper.tv

Mediola

Do You Think You Should Feel Loyal To Your Company?

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