FactoryJoe makes this interesting suggestion:
“I suggest that individuals represent themselves first as people and second as employees, if at all. Furthermore, that corporations are increasingly only a figment of law that will eventually become less relevant as individuals decide to work on loosely joined, distributed, collaborative projects. Give it 20 years, you’ll see.”
His overarching point from his blog post is:
“I don’t represent my employer, who I choose to work for represents me.”
Chris (FactoryJoe) justifies the above view by pointing out that the company he works for (Flock, in his case) is only as good as him and the other people that work for it. Flock represents the quality of “his efforts, his work and his intelligence” – and that of his colleagues.
I think it’s a valid view, and certainly useful fodder for pushing back on the perpetuating view in fact that you represent your employer.
Chris is of course in a unique position – he works for a small start-up where his efforts can be clearly picked out from their product (he designs their UI). But even for people working in a large company, I don’t think it’s unfair for people to feel they have a right to their own identity.
What do other people think?
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