During the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen enough beach volleyball to last a lifetime.  I don’t know if someone at NBC is a beach volleyball nut, or if beach volleyball has attained a status heretofore hidden from me, or if the Chinese government decreed that beach volleyball must be shown in Law & Order fashion to make the world think China is a trip to the beach, regardless of what we may have heard to the contrary.  The primary U.S. women’s team won a gold medal.  I saw them make a comeback against the Belgium team that would have been thrilling in any sport other than beach volleyball.  Seeing so much beach volleyball got me to thinking about a couple of things that may–may–have relevance to this blog.

First, even if something arguably shouldn’t even be an Olympic sport, you’re tempted to start thinking there’s something to it if that’s all you’re fed.  I began to expect it, wondered if I could play it, dreamed about it.  I was being brainwashed.

That can happen at work.  The new way forward is sent to you daily via email.  The CEO says the same thing in every speech.  Your boss says there’s only one right way to do your job.  Your employees show a work ethic that’s pathetic.

You know the new way forward is backward, but there it is every day, and it becomes etched in your brain.  You know the CEO’s speech is mindless, but you’ve memorized it and start reciting it yourself.  You know there are ten right ways to do the job, but you give in to the boss’s harping about one right way.  You know your employees can’t work their way out of a paperbag, but you get used to the way they do (or don’t do) things.  Pretty soon, you’ve accepted beach volleyball.

Don’t do it.  Think for yourself.  Push back.  You’ll be a better employee, regardless of your position.  Your company will be a better employer.

Second (and on the other hand), don’t let someone like me put down what you do if you enjoy it, feel a sense of accomplishment, and believe it contributes to the mission of your employer.  We all can’t do the same thing.  We all don’t want to do the same thing.  We all have different opinions about what’s important and what’s not.

I think about accountants the same way I think about beach volleyball players.  I can’t imagine doing what they do.  But the truth is I don’t have what it takes to do what accountants do.  It’s funny how the jobs we think are unimportant are jobs we can’t do.

This beach volleyball odyssey has given me new insight.  To me, it’ll never be track and field.  But that’s just me.  What I need to do is the best I can at what I do, and let others do the best they can at what they do.  We’re all on the same team.