"I actually think it's worth doing a story on Microsoft's challenges, but pointing to a couple of employees leaving is the wrong starting point. The fact is, Microsoft has always had a very open and self-critical culture (as I've explained from day one on this blog), so at any point in time you'll be able to write a whole news story about employee complaints. Other companies have developed reputations for silencing and/or firing employees who blog critically. That doesn't mean that their employees are any happier."
He hits the nail on the head when he states "Microsoft has always had a very open and self-critical culture" and it highlights another reason I like working here so much.
I feel empowered and enabled to speak my mind even when my opinion goes against the grain of popular belief or my manager's request.
I feel a sense of responsibility to explore all of the possibilities and options when we're working on a project or solution. So if my manager or someone else pigeon-holes on one facet of the problem I will always speak up and point out things we might be missing or better ways of accomplishing our task [assuming I see them]. There will always be people who don't feel comfortable enough to do this for one reason or another, but I sincerely feel that it's my responsibility and I've been told by my management and co-workers that they appreciate it (most of the time).
Now, I will admit that there is a flip side to this and that is the fact that sometimes differing opinions/options are not always considered or acted upon. I'm not going to lie and say that we all sit around and sing kum-by-yah after a meeting where one person wants a project to go a certain direction and someone else points out flaws in their solution. Discussions can get heated, feelings can get hurt and people disagree...those are all parts of life. Often a person will present a solution with the feeling that they've thought of every possible point-of-failure and they just don't see [or want to see] how it could fail when you present that perspective to them. Yes, there are processes and solutions that I have had to implement where I was quite vocal about my disagreement, but that's my point...I was able to express my disagreement and not fear for my job.
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