I used to take everything in business so personally.

If an idea was shot down, it was an attack on me. 

If I was passed up for a special project, it must’ve been because the manager didn’t like me. 

If I didn’t get a pay raise or bonus, the only answer was clearly that the boss wasn’t my biggest fan.

I was such a damn child. I can’t believe I used to think like that. 

But hey, I get it. I was a young, ambitious kid that wanted to move fast as hell and conquer the world… you know, become a captain of industry. 

That was small thinking though. Correction: not small, but selfish thinking. 

As you gain experience and achieve more in your career, you’ll learn that it’s all not about you. There is a bigger “thing” at stake here. The business is the priority and people at the top have to make the best possible chess moves so that they can achieve the greatest possible outcomes across an array of ongoing and ever-evolving factors. 

Woah, that was a mouthful. Get it? Got it? Good.

If you’re young and feel like business moves are personal attacks on you and your character, I’d strongly encourage you to change your mindset. It’s simply not true.

There can be two truths at once – a manager could really think the world of you AND pass you up for different business moves at the same time. 

Maybe you aren’t the right person for the job. Maybe moving you would cause too many other gaps in your current role. Maybe you just might get a little ahead of your skis.

There are a thousand reasons why things might not go the way you hope.

Get the chip off your shoulder and just keep fighting the good fight.

One of my favorite quotes ever comes from Shep Gordon:

Don’t take this rant as a fully scoped-out view of the world, I’ve definitely witnessed cases where things are personal. But people that do that are just bad at business and life. This could account for maybe 1% of cases.

For the other 99% of the time, it’s nothing personal. It’s just business. 

- AJM

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