I read this in two parts. The part before the actual letter, and then I was distracted back to what I was actually supposed to be doing. And then I came back and picked up where I had left off. In the meantime, I’ve forgotten whose Substack I was actually reading and halfway through your letter, I said to myself follow this person immediately, and then realized I already am!
Did I recognize myself in it? This is exactly what I would’ve needed the last project management job employer I had to understand. But at that stage of my life, I didn’t know what I am and would never have had the nerve to push this forward. Now I’m an old crone 53 weeks from retirement and I don’t need to tell anybody this because I work remote and my employers are a board of directors who may be put five hours a week into the effort and have no idea whether I’m working right now or working in the middle of the night or whatever! And I am killin’ it, finally getting important projects, scoped, underway, and soon done!
That letter is beautifully written, and I hope that it is incorporated in some form in every proposal you do for a CPA client.
This is just the sort of letter I feel like my kids need to read along with me. I follow a couple of communities of job-seekers and the level of hopelessness and despair around incongruent expectations and corporate lip service is unreal.
I wish I would have had this letter 10 years ago, but I'm glad that you've written it now. There's so much that you bring to advocacy work for neurodivergent professionals.
Best of luck on your search. Perhaps, if you found one company that felt right, you'll find another, or they'll find you.
I love this letter idea. Speaks to my own reality and as a formerly public facing clergy person this would have been amazing to have. I also know many people who might have liked to receive something like this.
Love this letter. I lost my job during the Meta Layoffs on May 20. I'm the sole provider for my two teens - one headed to college.
A lot of what you said hit home. I haven't started looking yet. I'm letting things settle first, spending some time with myself, re-identifying what energizes me, and trusting in this process. I don't want to out of fear jump into the first thing and regret it a month in. I want to find something that lights me up and contributes something positive to our world.
Below what you wrote strikes me as the essence of good leadership. It's what I've always looked for in my managers and the leader I strive to be, but so much more than this hit home. Thank you.
"I need the relational ground to be solid. I don’t need protection from hard feedback, high standards, or direct conversation. I need what’s said in the room to match what’s said outside it. I need expectations to be stated. I need to be evaluated by the rules I was actually given. When I trust the environment, a remarkable amount of my capacity becomes available for the work. When I don’t, I spend it reading the room instead, and you get only a fraction of what’s possible."
I read this in two parts. The part before the actual letter, and then I was distracted back to what I was actually supposed to be doing. And then I came back and picked up where I had left off. In the meantime, I’ve forgotten whose Substack I was actually reading and halfway through your letter, I said to myself follow this person immediately, and then realized I already am!
Did I recognize myself in it? This is exactly what I would’ve needed the last project management job employer I had to understand. But at that stage of my life, I didn’t know what I am and would never have had the nerve to push this forward. Now I’m an old crone 53 weeks from retirement and I don’t need to tell anybody this because I work remote and my employers are a board of directors who may be put five hours a week into the effort and have no idea whether I’m working right now or working in the middle of the night or whatever! And I am killin’ it, finally getting important projects, scoped, underway, and soon done!
That letter is beautifully written, and I hope that it is incorporated in some form in every proposal you do for a CPA client.
This is just the sort of letter I feel like my kids need to read along with me. I follow a couple of communities of job-seekers and the level of hopelessness and despair around incongruent expectations and corporate lip service is unreal.
I wish I would have had this letter 10 years ago, but I'm glad that you've written it now. There's so much that you bring to advocacy work for neurodivergent professionals.
Best of luck on your search. Perhaps, if you found one company that felt right, you'll find another, or they'll find you.
I love this letter idea. Speaks to my own reality and as a formerly public facing clergy person this would have been amazing to have. I also know many people who might have liked to receive something like this.
Love this letter. I lost my job during the Meta Layoffs on May 20. I'm the sole provider for my two teens - one headed to college.
A lot of what you said hit home. I haven't started looking yet. I'm letting things settle first, spending some time with myself, re-identifying what energizes me, and trusting in this process. I don't want to out of fear jump into the first thing and regret it a month in. I want to find something that lights me up and contributes something positive to our world.
Below what you wrote strikes me as the essence of good leadership. It's what I've always looked for in my managers and the leader I strive to be, but so much more than this hit home. Thank you.
"I need the relational ground to be solid. I don’t need protection from hard feedback, high standards, or direct conversation. I need what’s said in the room to match what’s said outside it. I need expectations to be stated. I need to be evaluated by the rules I was actually given. When I trust the environment, a remarkable amount of my capacity becomes available for the work. When I don’t, I spend it reading the room instead, and you get only a fraction of what’s possible."