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- Rebellious Thoughts #78 - 🤘 How a Lost Job Saved My Career
Rebellious Thoughts #78 - 🤘 How a Lost Job Saved My Career
By Gus Balbontin
Edition #78
Hey!
As always, I promise to provoke you in less than 5 min once a week so that you can stay adaptable and on top of your game.
Alright, here we go:
I was waiting for this phone call for days - I applied for the job, had a number of interviews and all that was left was the phone call.
I remember knowing I didn’t get it before he finished saying hi - the tone of bad news is too obvious.
Digging around to try to understand what went wrong, I learned that one of my referees, whom I had put forward, said, “Gus is a very polarising character.”
This reference made who I thought was going to be my future employer very nervous and they decided not to hire me.
Weekend trek with the fam
I was devastated - perhaps not so much because I didn’t get the job, but because my referee thought I was a polarising character. I was like “I AM POLARISING COS I HAVE TO BE! I AM HEADING INNOVATION, I HAVE TO PISS PEOPLE OFF IN THE PURSUIT OF NEW PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES AND WAYS OF WORKING BUT WHEN I DON’T HAVE TO BE POLARISING I AM NOT” SIGH!!!!!
I was annoyed - I had a reputation for being a force that some liked and some didn’t….but my intentions and goals were noble, aligned with the customer, better for everyone long term, obvious given the market…. shit was changing fast at that point in time… I was trying to help us keep up.
But despite me justifying to myself why I had to be polarising, I still saw this as a weakness, as a flaw in my character I had to fix. As something that as much as I thought I was in control, it controlled me. All I wanted was for everyone to like me and also agree with me and see what was sooo obvious to me! Easy! Haha
I was at that stage in my career where I was trying to guess what those who had the power to make decisions needed to hear so I could say it and break into senior positions.
I wasn’t being polarising because I was heading innovation.
I was heading innovation cos I was naturally polarising.
Weekend glass blowing
Eventually, this event became a distant memory, consciously and unconsciously I realised that the trick was not to remove this trait from my character but to sharpen it, to use it at the right times in the right way.
I now see it as a gift to have the power to polarise people, to make them think and inspire a decision. To love me or hate me makes no difference as long as you don’t ignore the respectful provocation.
The polarising character I was when I was younger was unrefined. Had great intentions but sharp elbows. The new version is just as polarising or even more perhaps but polished. More effective in catalysing the results my clients are after. I am by no means finished - like everything, it needs work and regular polishing and sharpening!
In hindsight - that referee saved me from a role that would not have suited me and, in the process, made me self-aware and gifted me the opportunity to do something about it. To become a better version of me.
Weekend training and breakkie with friends
I was watching a Ricky Gervais interview recently and he said something along the lines of: “You’ve got to polarise if you are doing anything of any worth. As many people will hate you as love you.”
Ricky is incredibly polarising - he can write Derek and Humanity - his ability to stretch thought is admirable.
But the feeling of wanting to be liked and trying to say what others want to hear still happens to me today, not as much, but still… even in this newsletter - sometimes people unsubscribe or send me a message back saying “I disagree with you” and I need to keep reminding myself that I don’t write this to be liked, I write this to provoke people to think new thoughts.
Rebellious thoughts to provoke thoughtful rebellions.
CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:
Say it. The opinion you’ve not been saying because you’re scared it might ruffle feathers or it’s not what people want to hear. Spit it out. At work, at home, in a meeting, at dinner - wherever it matters. Don’t be rude or accusative, maybe preamble it with “this is a view, may not be right but I would like to share it so at least it’s off my chest”. Share what you believe. It might piss someone off. Or it might set you free.
Love :-)
Gus
Below is the podcast I recently recorded, just in case you missed it last week - it’s fun to relax and dive into topics I can’t during keynotes - have a listen, tell me what you think!
Recommendations:
If you’re curious about how to actually use AI in real life—not just read about it—check out HumanAI, a newsletter by my good friend Lucas.
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