8
WE BRACKETS YOU

Working in such a volatile industry means that in a short span of time, I have reported to more people than most have reported to throughout their entire careers. A positive byproduct of that is becoming very self-sufficient in your day-to-day work given the pace of managerial changes. A negative result is having a new person try to figure you out every few months. I was on to my third change in reporting structure in just over a year, when my newest head of department took a keen interest in me and my performance.
Every morning, he would covertly circle past my desk to check what I had been working on, read my priorities list on my whiteboard, as well as pacing around to figure out my usual arrival and departure times from the office. To add insult to injury, since I was the newest member on the team who he had interacted with least, he went around asking all of my teammates what my work was like, where I had come from, what I had worked on and so forth. It was safe to say that I had become his new project and there was seemingly no way out of the intense scrutiny. We had a few unconventional talks where he referenced both firing and promoting people recently, so I wasn't really sure where I stood.  When I somehow passed the invisible trust test, the lurking and investigating subsided, and so began the coaching and advising. Every day, I would get emails saying I was the best, how I had big potential and get a million new projects.

Then came what would be the defining email of my year. I was on a conference call with the regional team in China when I got asked to report on any priorities from my department at home base. I gave a brief update as per usual, and within minutes of the call ending, I received an email from my biggest fan. It began like this: "We need to make these calls better for the China team. We (you) need to find a way to do it." The we brackets you combination was hysterical - every boss means "you" when saying "we" or "our team", but this boss decided to spell it out! An iconic email for a hysterical day, and a pattern he continued for a few weeks, until reverting simply to "you". I guess we (I) really are (am) the best!