Yes, it is the day of Judgement call. You are defined by the company you keep. In other words, the company you work for. But do not panic if your company is not a Fortune 500 or one of the largest _______ in the world. This is the era of niche business. Specialization is in the air.
A couple of years ago I was conducting a Focus group study for a leading technology organization. The target group consisted of experienced professionals from a cutting-edge technology background. When I asked them to "Define your dream company" majority of the participants gave out the names of companies that were growing, new to the market, with employees of 25-50 numbers, and were innovative product and service providers. Incidentally, all these companies were paying compensation packages above industry standards. Now, don't go 'Aha! Here's the catch'. The compensation is a good carrot, no doubt. The bottomline though, is the fact that you could dodge red tapes of a large multinational corporation and make autonomous decisions. This is very important in a growing economy where risk takers are increasing in numbers and the entrepreneural spirit is spreading like wild-fire. Naturally, the additional package helps them sustain their existence as well as enables them to set up boutique consulting services across the city. Not all of them are successful but no one can object them trying.
An indication of your economy's health is when percentage of risk aversion lowers. For years people in developing and under developed economies have been trying to find security in large stable organizations but no one can deny the fate of such an organization after the downfall of a major financial institution in recent times. The fact that this happened in a developed country is a litmus of things to come. Companies in countries like India and China are feeding off many small businesses and self employments. The rapid growth of skills in Information technology in these countries have uplifted the life styles of the large middle class and opportunistic lower class. Still, the gap between the rich and poor leaves your mouth agape. This is because the scavengers in the social strata have not been able to latch on to the lower end jobs in smaller organizations like how it used to traditionally be. The stratification in the middle class itself is so intense that you can see predatory tendencies when they compete for all employment opportunities that are available to them. Lower classes are completely thwarted. If you noticed I have used words that are associated with primitive instincts of us civilized animals. That's because the current Job market is a jungle out there. The sanctity of a patriarch / matriarch providing for the family is long gone. Man, woman and child are competing with each other to make their mark in the future of turbulent economy.
In the end, all we are interested in is to see a better world for ourselves and our children to live in. But when we reach there I know there will be debris all around us. The one, we realise that was created before we made our mark. And that is why I am not sure of the importance in keeping the right company. The bigger question that is looming over me: 'Is the institution greater than the individual?'. I guess not.
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