I may be a Poster Child…

Posted by Laura Bergells

June 21, 2007

I had to grin when I read Sticky cities, slippery workers over at the Michigan Business Review. First, I loved the title. Kind of like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Only different.

Second, I was depicted as a “poster child” in the first paragraph. Originally, the idiom of “poster child” referred to a waif afflicted with some sort of deformity. But owing to my middle-aged status, I am very happy that reporter Lynn Stevens chose a great, youthful metaphor to describe me as an example of a “slippery worker.”

Now, the term “slippery” can have a negative connotation, too. Like I’m going to take my clients’ money and run or something. But happily, my former professor at GVSU, economist George Erickcek was quoted in the article. He explained,

“They’re slippery in the fact that they can move around quite readily as they build their careers in the industry.”

And that’s the truth. Last week, my broker asked me, “Where do you see yourself in 20 years?” I flippantly answered that I couldn’t truthfully answer that question 22 years ago when interviewers asked me “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

I mean seriously. Suppose I had answed my broker by saying, “I’ll be flying around in my solar-powered car in a bubble that’s been built over the arctic region of Canada?”

That’s about how nutty I would have sounded if I answered my 1985 corporate interviewers by saying, “I’ll be developing internet marketing strategies for businesses around the globe from an office within my home. And I’ll use my blogs to as a platform to spread thought-provoking ideas worldwide.

Technology changes fast. And social and physical environments are changing rapidly, as well.

Stay in the present. Stay in the moment. Be open. Be alert and alive — and passionately interested in life.

Truth is, I can probably do my job from anywhere. My client in Hawaii asked me to come on down last week (ask me again in January, Jeannie!)

But a body has to be somewhere, and I like Grand Rapids. (If you took a look from my window today, you’d know why.)

A former boss depicted my slippery-ness as “dangerous” — because it shows that I cannot made a commitment. No loyalty to anyone. And people who don’t make commitments? Well, they’re dangerous “cut and runners”.

I’ve been in Grand Rapids for over 17 years. I moved my family up here. But I could still “cut and run” from a physical location at any time, right?

Sure I could. The cell phone and the laptop makes it easy. If Grand Rapids stops being magical for me and my family, why, we’ll go somewhere else. Who wouldn’t?

When large corporations complain that “workers don’t show any loyalty anymore” — who are they kidding? Every large corporation I ever worked with made me sign a “fire at will” agreement — on the first day on the job. I think that kinda sets the tone for what kind of loyalty a large company can expect from employees!

In my business, folks toss around the term “brand loyalty” quite a bit. But no one is really loyal to a physical product. They’re loyal to the ideals that the product represents.

You know what I’m loyal to? You know what I’m passionate about?

Great Ideas. Spreading Joy. Caring for Family. Uplifting and Inspiring People.

And there’s nothing too slippery about that!