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drinking the kool-aid

Apologies for the infrequent posting, it's been getting real busy, as is expected this time of year...a pre-busy season warmup of sorts. I did want to blog about something that happened this week though... My manager, who used to be a really good senior a few years ago, has began to drink the company kool-aid. I saw this transition with my own eyes, and unfortunately am feeling the brunt of his kool-aid sipping. It's a really interesting company dynamic, wherein anyone up for promotion, or in their first year as a newly minted higher-up, whatever that position may be, starts delving into their work a little too seriously, taking things to the extreme....doing more than what is necessary. To me, this looks like a case of CYA (Cover your Ass) so to speak..so they can prove that they are actually worthy of this new position.
My manager started extolling the virtues of attending company presentations and such, saying that we really need to understand how the company's trying to help us, and air our concerns. At the same time, he told me and my team that there were only a few people who were unhappy with the current state of affairs. Are you kidding me? After listening to his endless potshots, I told him that he was sipping the company kool-aid, and he went into denial. I then went on to explain that there was a disconnect between him and reality, and that a lot of us are very unhappy with the way we were being bandied around by the firm. He then theorized that our generation was a different generation and that our mindsets were different. I can't really argue this case because I don't know what his generation was like even though he was only a few years ahead...but seriously, what causes people to suddenly start sipping the company kool-aid. Secret meetings organized by the head honchos brainwashing managers and above? Emails every day extolling the virtues of the firm such as top 10 places to work for amongst people under 5 feet tall in the Tuscaloosa region? Maybe I need to find a way to drink some of this kool-aid so I can go to work every day tapping my feet together and smiling 24/7.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have been in public practice for over 7 years now and I've worked for a few different firms in that time. They ALL play these head games, and I haven't been able to figure out why either. I'm now 6 months away from my CA designation, and I am going to go out on my own as a contractor just to get away from all the BS. And don't even get me started with all these baby boomers harping about "our generation" and how little work ethic we have. It's complete crap, in their day they did everyting manually, and things were way less complicated. Our generation works smarter not harder and we don't deserve the bad rap for wanting balance between work and family life.
Anonymous said…
Hi

In regards to your which firm to choose from post, i was wandering how much do you actually learn about the company you are auditing and its industry and are you given a choice over which companies or companies within a certain industry you would like to audit?

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