So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

“You live and learn. At any rate, you live” Douglas Adams

One of the books in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series – and subsequently a song in the movie – is titled So long, and Thanks for All the Fish. It represents a message from the dolphins who vacate the planet Earth just before its demolished. The books are really worth reading (or rereading) for no other reason than to be able to know what “The Ultimate Answer” is. But, my mission isn’t to sell more books for Mr. Adams it’s to try to make a point.

So, how can you be more like the dolphins and know how long to enjoy the fish but get out before everything blows up? This used to be primarily a problem in startups but anymore it’s just as important to figure out in big and what used to be “safe” companies.

Simon says: Take one giant step back. Back away from the Job and To Do lists and Friends and Loyalties and Paychecks (fish) and Upside Potential. Analyze your current situation the same as you would if you were first looking to go to work there, or better yet, if you were looking to invest in the opportunity.

What’s critical is to be totally honest. We all tend to see too much of both the good and the bad depending on mood and circumstance, thus the giant step backwards, for perspective.

Ask these questions:

How healthy is the company?
Is it growing?
Is it profitable?
Does it respect its customers?
Does it respect its employees?
Does it do “the right thing” (See Herb Greenberg article on MarketWatch http://www.marketwatch.com/ 10/28/07)

How healthy is your job?
How do you rate your productivity?
How do you rate your value?
Are you generally happy?
Do you recruit friends to your company for their benefit? (As opposed to yours so you’ll have a bigger support group).
When you get a call from a recruiter do you immediately think of people in your network or yourself?

Final question: In doing a good, old fashion sniff test how do the fish smell?