Your Boss’ Values
by Miki Saxon
Decades ago, when I was a recruiter in Silicon Valley, I preferred working directly with managers, avoiding HR, so I worked primarily with startups and smaller companies as opposed to large corporations — unicorns didn’t exist back then.
Aside from disliking HR’s bureaucratic read tape, I found I could provide better matches by understanding the culture of the hiring manager, whether founder or not.
Yes, there is an overarching company culture, but the manager-specific cultures that exist in every company rarely duplicate it and may not even bare any similarity.
Culture is the direct result of values.
Culture is only ageist, misogynist, bigoted when that manager’s values are ageist, misogynist, bigoted.
To thrive in a culture, you don’t need to duplicate your boss’ values, but they must, at the least, be synergistic.
Accepting an offer from a boss whose values are incompatible, let alone diametrically opposed, to yours can mean setting yourself up for disappointment or worse.
Image credit: pmillerd
