Ignore the Bad Advice

Sometimes you get terrible advice in your career. I know. I've been there.

Every time I switched jobs, I had to prove myself all over to a new group of people. I was dedicated and proud, with an insane work ethic. I'm observant and even-keeled. I got terrible advice often.

Here's some advice I was given that I ignored. These are all true.

Be more mean to your staff

As a young Store Manager, I was transferred to another store and asked to run it. The store had a terrible theft problem and a young staff that I was told was not dedicated. My District Manager told me to take over this store and be mean when I got there.

"You need to make them fear you. It's good. Lay down the law."

Nah.

I didn't do that.

I went in. I got to know everyone. I set an example for hard work. I didn't tolerate sexism from a young Assistant Manager. I stood up for people and worked alongside them. Our business began booming.

My Co-Manager and I worked to get our shrink to -1% - down from +3%. (That's a big deal).

Don't be mean to people.

Over apologize. Act like you're really sorry and scared.

I never did this, either.

After one of my stores was remodeled, our business went through the roof. We were so busy, but the company didn't know how to allocate our payroll because this surge was new.

After a busy Cinco de Mayo (my store was next to a Mexican restaurant), I had a pop visit the next day from some VIPs. I knew the store wasn't adequately recovered, but I had two associates in a 10,000-square-foot building. There wasn't a lot we could do.

I explained that our business was crazy, but I didn't think I could add hours. We made do with what we had.

I laid out my recovery plan and immediately called people in to help recover the store.

My boss showed up later that day and said I hadn't acted sorry enough. I should've sold it more - I needed to play the game.

Nah. I'm okay.

I will work my ass off to do what you ask of me, but I'm not going to act scared of you or apologize for the fact that the finance department can't get my payroll hours right. We all work for the same company, let's work together.

(I also wonder if they would've told a man to act more sorry.)

"I don't know about your personality"

I had a Store Manager say that to me. She was cold and unfriendly. I only spoke to her about business and never let down my guard. She only told us what we did wrong, never what was right.

Every decision I made, I had to defend. Even when business was great. She would pull me into the office. "Why didn't you add hours?" (It was because the people I had on the floor would've caused me more work if I had extended their shifts.)

One day she told me she "didn't know about my personality" because I was so even-keeled all the time. Like that was a bad thing.

Okay- so - let me set this record straight. The entire team feeds off the energy of the person in charge. If you feel like your team is robotic and has no personality...ahem...it may be you.

Your career is long. You'll get some terrible advice.

Listen, observe, and take care of yourself and your team; you'll do okay.

Most people with the tile "leader" or "manager" are in it for their own gain. I've had more bad managers than good. But the good ones are out there. They work their asses off, too, and would do anything for the teams they lead.

Keep an eye out, and you'll find them.

If you get some advice that makes you feel like - EW! - Then it's bad.

Ignore it and do your thing.

You got this.

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Kit Campoy is a former retail professional turned freelance writer. She covers Web3, travel, leadership, retail, writing, and more. She also writes personal essays on Medium. Connect with Kit on LinkedIn, DeSo, and Twitter. Give yourself a break, and join her weekly newsletter. ???