The Professional Paradox


Humbled to announce

A man I once watched take credit for a junior’s work in real time, in a meeting, with the junior present, has posted on LinkedIn that he is “humbled and honoured” to win an internal award for collaboration.

Humbled. The award is a PDF certificate. The collaboration was him forwarding an email and adding “thoughts?”

The comments are worse. Congrats mate. So deserved. Three clapping emojis. Half of them from people I know for a fact he has never once replied to.

I drafted a comment. I deleted it. I drafted it again. I am telling you this so you understand the restraint involved, because none of my performance reviews have ever captured it.

O and directly beneath his post: an inspirational story about a CEO who personally replies to every email within four minutes. It was later revealed to be entirely made up, which somehow makes it the more honest of the two posts.

I closed the app. I opened the app.

Growth mindset.

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