The People Are People Post

Have you ever fallen in love with a place because of its stated ideals? That scripted mission statement? That pinhole yet all-embracing vision? That ethical glint cast from leadership’s falsely white veneers?

We’ve all fallen prey to the But this one is different airbrushed chimera dangling overhead at some point and in some place. Me too.

Still, the naivety of some organizations is sometimes cringe. There’s no other way to say it. You hear it, you like it, everyone nods during the Teams meeting, but you know it rings dully when the office puts on their collective stretchy pants and returns to their typical banter for the day. Banter that falls far short of any of the glittering best practices you all just pinky promised to keep.

But I need to let the cat out of the bag here: People are people, wherever you go, no matter the policies in place. Every HR and director of fictitious spirits in all self-luminous organizations will want to fire back at this point, but it’s the realistic truth.

Let me ask you a question. If God couldn’t subdue humanity with ONE rule about ONE tree in ONE garden, what on earth makes us think our shiny policy page, full of endless rules and restrictions and securities, will produce any better results?

One rule in the garden couldn’t do it.

The law of Moses couldn’t do it.

Your perfect bold font of notably researched and emotionally charged angles won’t do it.

No person and no organization can script the human heart. It will do right by you or it won’t. And that’s the truth, honey.

So, calm down, HR and vision statement mob. Yes, we should strive to do better, to be the best. No, I am not placing a vote for lawlessness. I have had the privilege of working in relatively pleasant organizational cultures and for equally unpleasant ones too. I advocate for what is good. But… in the end, the heart does not care about your policies.

It cares about relationship. As it was in the beginning… As it was with God.

And that’s much harder to fake and will require far more than a gavel to maintain.

Trust what you hired. Until you can’t.

Cheerio, fellow humans.