Our development technician told me about four weeks ago that he was thinking of resigning, retiring, and moving to North Carolina. Yesterday, he told me that they sold their house, and I thought about how, with one more year under this Dean, how many rats fled the sinking ship. You see, people look for other jobs because they are not satisfied with something in the workplace. Some leave for more money. Some leave for better treatment. Some leave to make a statement. I have done all of these. All of these evince failed leadership. You see, leaders have two roles- to achieve the mission and to take care of the people who make the mission successful. If leaders did their job, the people who work for them would stay. They look elsewhere for opportunity because they feel that leadership doesn't care. When you work for an organization that treats you like just another "resource" it's time to find another job.
Most people leave for better pay. Last week, I was headhunted for a very lucrative ($125,000/year) job doing GC/MS in a marijuana testing laboratory. I ultimately turned it down because I wouldn't be proud to tell anyone that's how I earned my living. Our integrity is really all that truly belongs to us, and I won't sell mine for a salary, even if it gets me a bigger house, a better car, and opportunities to date. Last year, I transferred to Chemistry hoping to capitalize on the change to generate a pay raise. It didn't work out that way. In the end however, each transfer I took led to a better pay rate as I moved from the top of a previous pay to the bottom of the next, effectively raising the ceiling. My dad lost several employees to other organizations because of better pay offerings or better arrangements. At least I'm not selling fries with that.
When I moved to Vegas, I came looking for better treatment. With only two more days left on the job, the general manager came to me asking what they could do to get me to stay. My belongings were in a storage unit, I was living in a weekly motel, and my father was on his way up that evening to help me move. I was already committed. Mostly, I left for double standards. Others were promoted for the same reasons I should have. Others were permitted to do things I never would be. They leaned on me for benchmarks, for statistics, and for their bonuses. Even last year when I transferred from biology to chemistry officially, I saw the Biology Chair was upset. You see, he thought he inherited someone about whom he didn't have to worry, but when I leave, it left a void. I was tired of the hose job. During the pay freeze, coworkers were promoted and given other opportunities, but I was required to check in and out, keep track of my hours, and watch my back because they believed the hype and the lies. If I ever did something, they emailed the entire department to complain, but I had to ask to get compliments in writing. When punishment is public and written but praise is private and verbal, that's one hallmark of failed leadership. Another is when some employees get perks, raises, and special attention while others are left out. You don't have to punish them; refusing to include them in the bonuses amounts to the same thing. Even as a missionary, when a special outing was put together to Matthausen, everyone was invited except for my partner and me. They left us out, and that showed me that leadership was a failure.
Every time I hear about immigration issues, I'm glad I didn't get the DHS job for which I hoped years ago. If I had a job where I was not allowed to do my job or got in trouble for doing it like so many ICE/CBP/DHS agents do, I would have to resign in protest. Fortunately, I have never had to quit a job in order to make a statement. As I mentioned, I turned one down this past month from which I would have probably left, and the day may come when I leave NSHE in a huff, but that time has not come. I get to do something I enjoy for a paycheck that covers all of my bills and gives me leftovers for savings and entertainment, and so I stay. The day may come when I decide to leave. One of the upper muckety mucks told me a few weeks back that in order to advance in the college system you must either become a boot-licking toady or dig dirt. I told him that I don't dance. Considering that I make plenty of my own trials and the ones heaped on me by others, I'm doing well. I have the esteem and respect of the people whose respect matters and the deference of many of the rest of the kitten caboodle, but I know we have failed leadership. They built a house of cards that advances people more for connections and bribery than for competency and what they bring to the mission. I honestly cannot escape the possibility that my superiors refuse to allow me to advance unless they can somehow take credit and hold it over me. I have spectacular reviews, but other people are given better and more classes over me because of associations. I have higher retention, but they decide to pay people who cost a lot more because I lack the right paperwork. Well, I stay because for now I think I can still help students, but if that ever changes, I am ready to fall on my sword for the students.
Far too many people raise to leadership who do not belong, and once ensconced they seem almost impossible to remove. From tiny groups of friends to civic or religious groups and even to nations, people rise to the level of their incompetency and beyond. I think the reason is that the best among us tend to doubt, and the worst among us are absolutely convinced of their own superiority. Think back to high school- the most popular people were some of the people we know acknowledge were asinine and banal. They were however visible, verbal, and valuable by the metrics measured by mean teens, and so they were the cream of the crop. People know that the cream rises to the top. Sometimes we need to remember that the scum rises to the top too. Many of the rich, attractive, powerful people in our world are among the filthiest and vile of humanity. If your people are leaving or moving around, it's a wakeup call to evaluate your leadership and fix things. Trouble is, bad leaders don't believe in introspective. They believe in their own superiority. They sit there and say "we can survive without them, but they cannot survive without us." I'm sorry, but we are a civic service. Without people to pay taxes and send their kids to college, there is no need for anyone in higher education. Period. Society will survive without us, but we are completely dependent on them. And we're led largely by people who would fail in any other leadership position. They survive because we are subsidized and monopolistic. Too bad.
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