They realized it was turnaround time at Dell a few years ago: “I realized that we had created … a culture of financial performance, and a culture of ‘what’s in it for me?’ throughout our employee base,” says Rollins, who this year became Dell’s chief executive officer.
Odd, because financial performance and “what’s in it for me” are exactly what every rational employee should focus on. How Dell got soul? It’s a company. It doesn’t have soul. It can’t. People are forever asking employees to dedicate themselves to companies, even to love companies, and they don’t see the inherent stupidity of that request: the organization does not, cannot, love them back. Why would you ask me to love something that can’t return that love?
Maybe an organization like a religion, which is structured to take care of its members, is worthy of love and dedication. Maybe a union, maybe a university that can award tenure. Maybe even a corporation forty years ago when people believed in job security.
But only a fool would love a corporation today. A corporation isn’t a puppy or a spouse. It will never return your love. It will keep you around until you are no longer useful, and then, like a wild animal, it will turn on you and toss you away. It’s not evil, but love simply isn’t in its nature.
So don’t tell me to think of the soul or culture of my company. It doens’t have a soul and it doesn’t have a culture. It’s a workplace. If my company loved me, “employment at will” and “noncompete” wouldn’t be in my vocabulary. And neither would stock options and bonus pools: those are “what’s in it for me.” So, of course ask yourself “what’s in it for me?” when you go into a job. That’s what your employer is thinking.
Secretly Ironic 