The Paranoia Switch

This very timely entry links recent events with an old example of how paranoia would sometimes plague even the most confident and most competent employees.

Ton

12/6/20224 min read

Some years back, Martha Stout, an author with a PhD in psychology wrote a book called The Paranoia Switch. I found out about this book mere minutes ago on Google, after taking the added step to confirm if I actually coined a new term as a consequence of having decided on the title of this blog just a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, I have not read the book. But I might, at some point. Until then, let me state for the record that I am not inclined to contest whatever's written in that book, for 2 reasons:

One, I do not have a PhD in psychology. Yes, I attended one psychology class for one semester, as part of the standard university curriculum. But unless I have forgotten that I had attended class lectures that made frequent segues into electrostatics, I could only reasonably claim to remember the word "paranoia". Possibly. And while it would definitely be a word that would have been used at least once in those classes, the word "switch" would have been a surprise, if not an outright shocker. I therefore submit to Martha Stout as an excessively higher authority on the subject.

Two, I have had actual personal experiences with my own "paranoia switch". I believe every single one of us has. We just probably didn't know what to call it. And so however Stout described what the term refers to, without reading the book I am very much inclined to concur with her definition.

But from hereon, as the phrase implies, I shall refer to the "paranoia switch" as that metaphorical switch inside our heads, no different from the typical light switch, that could either turn ON or OFF one's heightened sense of fear, suspicion and apprehension, and everything else that comes with those.   

Moving on from definitions, I rewind back to a period between 2005 and 2006, when my 2 princesses were born just a little over a year apart from each other. I was a project manager in a prominent BPO firm. I was on my 3rd and 4th year in that company, sort of cushy that I no longer had to work the hard graveyard shift, after the first 2 years of needing to do so. How could I possibly want to go back to the graveyard hours, when I could be home for Manila Time dinners, and have the chance to enjoy being a father to my two princesses?  Of course, these never stopped one local executive from making overtures for me to take on a new project, one that if I had shown interest in, would have made it necessary for me to return to sleeping during the day while everyone in my family was going about their normal lives, and working throughout the night when they were all sound asleep.   My other reason, which I never spoke of, was that I had been turned off by this local executive's brand of leadership and marketing just over a year earlier.  

Fast forwarding from that point in time, I now recount a somewhat similar episode between 2007 and 2008.  This one involved a Manila-based American executive, who had a bit of a reputation for pushing his own personal agenda, reportedly without any regard for professional courtesies.  He wasn't as explicit in recruiting me, so I gave a calculated answer to the effect that I was willing to help out in whatever way I can.  With my response, I was hoping to hear more details, keeping an open mind until I heard more.  What he did in response to my less-than-assuring answer, was certainly one clumsy display of double standards that turned me off as well.   The guy just flat-out validated the stories about his reputation. 

Many in the corporate world will insist on the truth of this unspoken "rule":  "Declining an offered position or an opportunity to move up is usually a career-killer."  It is probably because in simple terms to decline would understandably be taken as a rejection. 

The truth was, before joining the BPO industry I told myself that I was not going to worry myself too much about pursuing a career there.  What I hadn't planned on were 2 daughters, and all the financial realities that came with those unplanned events.  And so, these realities, combined with the corporate world's "unspoken" rule, had flipped my paranoia switch to "ON", as my trust in both executives flipped from a provisional "OFF" to a permanent one.   I eventually moved on not only from that company but from the industry entirely, around May 2009.    

At the time, I wondered if things could have gone differently if either of those 2 executives, instead of probably pretending that all that mattered was that they did not have a problem with me, had bothered to ask if I had any concerns about them or their leadership styles.   Looking back, I would not claim to have zero regrets over how I handled parts of those episodes that were mine to handle.   But in all honesty, I have not lost any sleep over any of them.  

These days, I remember those 2 episodes only against the backdrop of appropriate processes.   

There was actually a 3rd executive, whose advice, if he had been the one to suggest that I move on to a new role, I would have seriously considered.  He had been my real boss, someone I had been formally assigned to report to.  Him, I truly respected and trusted.  I would have shared with the guy my concerns about the other 2 executives.  Perhaps because during those years he had been toggling between Cincinnati and Detroit, that neither of the other 2 execs based in Manila had thought to ask him first, get his blessing, before going about the task of "recruiting" me. 

Fast forward to today, working as a management consultant focusing on company culture, and consequently helping one client strengthen their HR department, I am now in a unique position to influence processes governing the internal recruitment, relocation and reassignment of incumbent employees.    I would do all that's possible to ensure professional protocols in this area are designed, established, respected, and implemented, along with making sure that dangerous paranoia switch-flipping shortcuts are avoided, until I officially conclude my engagement with this particular client, whenever that might be. 

When that day comes, it would probably be fair to ask the next important question:  Would it be right for all other company managers and executives outside of HR to claim that such processes are only HR's responsibility?  

The clear answer:  Not if the company hopes to keep its best people.