Which path to take?

06/26/08 09:49 AM

There comes a time when we all have to make a choice between which path to take in our careers. Do we do what the company wants us to do to keep people happy or do we push back when we feel that our customers, and patients, come first? I made my choice and I am not sure where the path leads but the further I go down this path the more I will learn about myself, others, and what people respect in today’s workplace.

In my opinion we make way too many compromises in this politically correct world. Mylast job involved the eMarketing of a healthcare product that can help a lot of people live better lives. I really beleived in the product and thought that by having a patient- and customer-focused website, we could communicate that people can lead better lives. I pushed back when I thought I was right, admitted my mistakes when I was wrong but I never lost focus of my customers needs.
Perhaps I am an idealist but being able to help people affected with this horrible disease was very rewarding.

However as you rise the ladder within a company you often have to make choices between doing something for politics or doing something because it is the right thing to do. Over time I have found that there are too many people who appear to choose the wrong path because they either are not willing to stand up for what they believe in, or they are too worried about making waves. I also know that standing up for what you believe takes a lot of courage and not everyone is passionate about their work as I tend to be. That’s the difference between having a career and a job.

Now, I am not that innocent to think that businesses exist just for their customers, but I always beleived that if you “take care of your customers and they will take care of you” . Companies like Sony and Ford have learned that the hard way and have lost their brand position in the market because they failed to take care of their customers. Sony thought that their brand equity would see them through anything and along came Apple and caught them napping and took the portable stereo market away right under their eyes. Ford ignored the fact that people were moving away from SUV’s to smaller cars and is now stuck with a business model that relied too heavily on the profits from SUV’s.

So I made a decision and stood up for what I believed was right for my customers. There are a lot of people out there, however, who are only interested in doing what is right for their careers, not their customers. Eventually that will come back to bite them in the ass but this is a lesson that has to be learned first hand through experience.

I remember a quote from the movie “Wall Street”... “Remember - it’s yourself you have to be proud of. “ It’s a great quote and one that I obviosly took to heart.

People are telling me that what I did took courage. Courage is not freedom from fear ! It is being afraid and still doing what you believe is right. I can tell you that I was very afraid in making the decision to leave but it was as much for me as it was for my patients and customers. If I had to do all over again I am not sure that I would do the same thing but I like to believe that I would. Maybe I just believe that there are some businesses out there that are willing to put customers first and reward employees for putting customers first. We’ll see but until then I’ll keep you posted and drink a toast to the future !!