How to get fired by the right reasons — 10 ways
CONTENT ALERT: no illegal, common sense, or easy-take ideas were used to write this piece.
You may forget about the pieces of advice that the more experienced coworker or the wisdom of the crowds tell you. Of course you shouldn’t: gossip, lie, loudly hunting for a new job, spending the entire day on the phone, be drunk, watch porn or abusive content on the internet, stealing, punch a fellow you dislike… well, you name it.
You absolutely nail it. You know what to avoid if you want to keep your job. If you don’t, it is even simpler: don’t take any job.
The point is that there are some clues that stay unnoticed while you are perfoming your job that may lead you to the exit door. I want to enumerate and describe some of them. They may differ from country to country or from company to company, but they may apply in any case.
However, if you see that these, let’s say, motivations, don’t apply to you, it is fine, but they may apply one day, I am sorry to say.
The reasons are
1. Outsmart a lot fo people
Arrogance is a bad start, obviously. If you are smart there is a great chance to be coined arrogant. Speaking smart stuff all the time will become a dangerous action that will pave the way to a toxic culture. You will become the poison eventhough your only intention is to help, to speed up the necessary steps to overcome challenges, and so on. Your intelligence will damage the egos of your team. Depending on how smart, skilled, experienced, humble, and ethical those people are, the pace of which you will feel the awful and sad effects of being smart may vary. You won’t feel any close of a king because you have an eye where everyone else have none (popular saying in Portugal — em terra de cegos, quem tem olho é rei). You will feel like the only one who has been blinded. The only place you can go is somewhere else. You had become the recipient of prejudice.
- A good reason to get fired.
2. Pure honesty
Naivety is pure gold, do you konw why? Because being humble set the rules you will be treated. Because being humble will teach others that your first couple of actions won’t derive from boldness. Nevertheless, being naive or honest is not the same. Honesty will empower your naivety to a place where only Gods are allowed. None of your team members will allow that. They will absolutely permit your naiveity so they can harm you through exposure of surprise and targeted gossip or other dirty trick. You’d be surprised how fast some sort of people learn dirty tricks. However, they will make everything they can to stop the benefits of your combined naivety-honesty. Mainly because pure honesty will drive the perfect expression of third party flaws without damaging anything along the way. This means that you will have the power to fire angelic phrases about their nasty attitudes, mistakes, and dirty tricks and be heard. A power only reserved to Gods indeed.
- A good reason to get fired.
3. Expression of critical thinking
Arrogance, again, and a smartass, again. You can’t avoid, can you? Critical thinking IS the scarcer skill on the planet! Therefore, it is the most needed. It is so scarce that it is unbelievable hard to realize it. Perhaps in all eras alike. Critical thinking is the way you can articulate complex thoughts through description, analyses, and complex problem solving while communicating all these stages in a perfect manner to a diverse audience. It is rare to spot job descriptions that requests the critical thinking skill. Why? Of course it is not because companies have it abundantly — quite the opposite. In my view I guess that you cannot see what is rare, like you cannot distinguish a raw diamond gem in a handfull of other stones. Critical thinking is a diamond skill. By saying this I want to declare that if you have it and you are putting it to action, you will have a target on your back — exactly like a diamond. Expressing critical thinking will have the undisputable consequence of depreciating all those who do not have it. Have no doubt, you must abuse this skill, but be aware. Diamonds amongst common stones… well, you guess what people can do. The difference is that diamonds can be stolen, but your critical thinking cannot. And people are faster in realizing that you must be destroyed rather to learn this basic and pretty human skill.
- A good reason to get fired.
4. Fast promotions
When you work too hard it is obvious you will progress. Progress increases the chances of good results appear. Good results bring the good news of promotions. More money on your pocket, more meetings with important people, perhaps a boost on your status as well. Of course it also has some disadvantages. Sweet and sour. Some will say that you got the promotion because you know the boss. If you are a woman, the gossip might be worse and from knowing the boss, you could just be sleeping with the boss. Promotions can get nasty really really fast. It is a shame how people cannot support others’ successes. It would be very empowering for the organization culture if the entire team supported and cheered each ones’ successes. But it never happens, does it? The main reason is, however, related to the way your colleagues will interpret your promotion. They will feel devalued for sure, even more if they see that your promotion should have been theirs instead. Enemies can rise from the shade overnight, and making true friends when you are on the spotlight is quite hard. Giving value to the remaining team members while just one was promoted is a necessary but inefficient effort. I am afraid that you could only rely on your equipment rather on your crew when climbing the career’s mountain.
- A good reason to get fired.
5. Learning behaviour
Are you a fast learner? Do you easily get what’s on? Can you execute on new knowledge effectively and immediately? If yes, congratulations, you have a big target on your back again. Performing raises the alarm of the petty. The petty can be a pain in the ass. You can be a pain in the ass of the petty, because you would be on their way to the throne. My question is what is the throne a petty person is aiming too? My answer is that they are aiming to all those who are achieving more than them. Showing your value will show how underperforming a petty person is. Your intelligence is a stone in their shoe and they will make sure you never get too far. Too far for a petty person is not that far but it is far enough to make you angry here and there. Relax, enjoy your ability and do your best to avoid collateral damage. It is never easy to get rid of the petty when you need to show up for yourself. Know how to learn is a skill and it is hard to develop. University can get you somewhere but universities do not teach how to learn, they teach how to pass exames and work under supervision (MSc’s) and autonomously (PhD’s). How to learn? Learning is a skill that mix humbleness, effort, discipline, and comfort in failure. Can humbleness be taught? What about discipline and effort? Resiliency to failure? … Nevermind. The sub-skills needed to know how to learn are huge and it takes a century to develop. If you have them, or if you are on your way to have a sip, stay strong. Damage will come.
- A good reason to get fired.
6. Performing in teamwork
Related to the previous one, but with a cherry on top. In a team it is about the team, not about you. Look at Ronaldo’s example. If Ronaldo scores and the team looses, his effort is pointless. In a corporate team it is the same. There is no sense on performing your best if at the end of the day the results do not show. Therefore, in a bad team, the best will suffer. First, because her best won’t be enough. Second, if she does her best her colleagues will suffer, either due to envy, or to shame — letting your team down is painfull. Third, not doing your best when you are more than capable to will backfire quickly. Your teammates will judge you. Anyway, being the best in a team will get your teammates angry. You will be coined a smartass, a showstopper, you would be judged as you would be showing off rather than helping the team. From Ronaldo to Neymar, lets say.
- A good reason to get fired.
7. Performing alone
Similar to the previous point. If by any chance your reaction is to perform alone, well, the end result will be the same. You would be part of your own team. A team of one. The introvert. The antisocial. You fear working in a team. You lack ‘the spirit’. The one who cannot handle teamwork, diversity of opinions, and negotiating different inputs from others. Does your team sucks? It does not matter, you must work with it, Ronaldo. You have a contract and you must drown with your team. Your team won’t change for you! Your p(r)etty colleagues will never improve just because you are better than them. The brief and all the term targets right to the rubbish bin. They will drown themselves as usual, and they will bring you along the way. They may actually use you as a lifejacket and floater. You can bet on that.
- A good reason to get fired.
8. Having interesting conversations
So you know stuff. Stuff from your region and country, but sutff from foreign countries as well. So you have the chance to read, to know, to go, to be that clever. So you have the time to improve your understanding of historical events, of world news, and you can also have your own informed opinion about those more or less complex topics? Who do you think you are? Do you think you can just be that good? Do you think you can just go and initiate interesting conversations everywhere you go, and challenge everybody and invite them to think for themlseves, asking for their thoughts on the matter? This is a hard laugh! Soon rather than later you will feel that everybody will avoid talking to you. They will think you are bossy, too eclectic, and from the elite. You are not like them. They will feel they are not enough to be around you. The consequences can also be observed in terms of new loving affairs, since you could attract people who are dazzled with you and it is kind of a trap, since love cannot be built on top of amazement. But, lets not talk about love, since you will get fired way before any real relationship happens. You may be put aside… You will start to feel a bit lonely… and it is a pretty…
- A good reason to get fired.
9. Fight for the right cause
You care about ending racism. You care about gender equality. Mee too, BLM, LGBTQ, Climate Change, and other social causes motivate you to make the world a better place. You read, you learn, you are updated about these topics, and you voice over, being an example for your peers. Well done! You belong here, to this modern era, and you work hard to improve the belonging feeling of others. However, a company is not the right place to be. A company does not care about social causes. I mean, in the current mood, companies may care about social causes if and only if they can use them to earn more money. Money is the only cause a company cares. We may say that Patagonia is proving the opposite, but do you know how much taxes they will save with the recent move? It is impressive how can social causes be manipulated to improve financial statements. It is unbelievable the difficulty humans have to help others just for the solidarity sake. Taking care of social causes can make you look bossy and better than the rest.
- A good reason to get fired.
10. Being happy
Very sad but true. If you are happy you will raise the jealousy level of your team, of your department, and if you are really happy, you may also raise the level of jealousy of the entire organization. Lets be clear here, everyone have their limits and others’ happiness cannot be too much, never. If it is, it will work as a constant reminder of others’ self unhappiness and it will undermine the effort to keep seeking it. So the alarm is raised and the happy fellow will be the root of a toxic environment. If you are happy you will enter into a countdown. No one tolerates happiness. It damages the ego. It brightens up the past bad memories. It makes the present unberarable. I am sorry to admit this, but companies are no place for happiness. Companies are not the place to find happiness. They are places to hussle, to fight, and too take the effort to another level, the level of countless hours for the shareholders’ interests; while sacrificing your health. The opposite route to happiness.
In conclusion, stay alert with these iconic motivations that you may find yourself tempted to seek inside a company. Either younsgters or experienced fellows can relate despite the ironic or funny nature of these 10 reasons. But there is nothing funny on being fired at the end of a slow process. A slow process to be the best person you can be.
A good reason to get fired is still a good reason to keep yourself on the right track.
Inspiration reference:
About the author:
- Cristiano M. Pedroso-Roussado: Portuguese explorer and strategist; a scientist by choice. Performing in the interface of science x creativity x management. www.cmpr-portfolio.weebly.com | https://ist79225.weebly.com
