How to write a post in 3 minutes. In 2 steps.
Step 1: Put on a kick-ass tune.
Step 2: Write.
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I remembered how it was a few years ago, in Silkroad… I loved the ethos surrounding the company back then. It became part of the foundation for the culture I am trying to build in my own company.
The tagline was simply – ‘work happily’ – and haters (usual people in marketing) argued that it made no grammatical sense. Maybe. But it made perfect sense on what work is supposed to be.
Work is something you spend a huge fraction of your time on. Unless you are one of those people who’s figured out passive income or whatever similar crap out there.
So why shouldn’t you be happy when working?
So the founders of the company, who happened to sell HR software, decided to instill that principle into its core. The executive team were very approachable. One of them said in an onboarding video, “if you need me to come and sit with you for a day to understand your work and look at ways it can be better for you and the company, then I’ll sit with you for a day”
I don’t know if anyone took that offer up from a CTO, but when he came around to the 4 man team Singapore office back when we started out — that’s actually what he did.
He gave a damn about what each of us did.
Fast forward a few years — the company had different leadership, different goals and grew extremely fast. So naturally, it all went to hell. I guess that’s normal when priorities shift from growing a good company from the inside, to chasing deals and hitting numbers.
I’m looking back in retrospect right now because I’m feeling especially unappreciative. Some would call this phase a ‘rut’. But my self-diagnosis tells me that I’m just not grateful of what has transpired over the last two years.
Last time this happened. I took to writing to get my thoughts in order and see how good things actually are.
I guess it’s true — that if you choose to look at the bright side, things will be good. Otherwise, things will always be crappy.
Ok song over. I’m gonna pack up and go home now.
