Your Whole Career Should Matter

Your whole leadership journey should matter. All of the people you have worked with; the challenges you have wrestled with, the highs and lows, the agreements and the disagreements, the successes and the disappointments make you who you are. I know and most of you reading this have known far more good people than bad people, you have had far more agreements than disagreements, and you have had far more successful outcomes than great disappointments. However, few, if any of us are proud of every single moment, every single relationship and every single hard-won agreement that we have come too - no matter how distinguished our career. 

Careers can be marred by an irreverent comment made in the heat of a moment or an anger response in a moment disappointment. There have been and will be moments when you know you could have done more and moments where you know you should have done less. These moments should not define you.

I’m not talking about reckless and irresponsible behavior in this post – nor am I in any way condoning hostile or despicable acts in the workplace. We should all stand against those who create, participate or otherwise enable sexual or otherwise abusive climates, we must stand firm against racist behavior and practices, we must call out and condemn immoral and unethical behavior.

But we should also know and respect the difference between a momentary lapse in judgment and an overt and intentional act of impropriety or hostility. We live in a cancel culture that is making it to easy to simply toss away a lifetime of work for a moment’s failure. Not every sin in the workplace is a mortal sin. Yet I am beginning to see that in today’s often hypercritical culture that the rush to judgment doesn’t allow for human error followed by forgiven or even an ounce of grace. 

On balance, most of us have done far more good than we have done badly. And perhaps that should earn us a little forgiveness or a small allowance of grace. I think we should remember that if we honestly believe that a whole career matters - some will have to remember that they too have imperfections and there will be a day when they too will wish we weren’t so quick in our rush to judgment. I know. I’m trying.