Every job listing says the same thing now.
“We’re looking for fresh perspectives.”
“We want people who challenge the status quo.”
“Bring your unique voice to our team.”
Then you get to the interview.
“So tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager.”
You tell them about a time you disagreed with your manager. Their face changes. Not a lot. Just enough. You can see them mentally crossing something off a list. The list isn’t written down anywhere. It doesn’t need to be. Everyone on the panel knows exactly what they’re looking for, and it’s not someone who disagrees with their manager.
They want fresh thinking from people who think exactly like them. Innovation from people who won’t rock the boat. New ideas as long as those ideas are the same ideas they already had, just phrased slightly differently so it feels like progress.
I worked with a company once that had “Challenge Everything” on the wall of their meeting room. Big letters. Couldn’t miss it. They’d spent actual money getting it designed and printed and mounted. In that same meeting room, I watched someone suggest they try a different approach to their marketing. Nothing radical. Just a different approach.
The room went quiet. Someone said “That’s interesting” in the voice people use when they mean “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” The suggestion was never mentioned again. The person who made it left three months later. Challenge Everything stayed on the wall.
Culture fit is the greatest trick HR ever pulled. It sounds reasonable. Of course you want people who get along. Of course you want someone who’ll work well with the team. But what it actually means is… we want someone who went to similar schools, likes similar things, laughs at similar jokes, and won’t make anyone uncomfortable by being too different.
The interview process is designed to find these people. Not officially. Officially it’s about skills and experience and behavioural competencies. But everyone in that room is really asking one question… “Is this person going to cause problems?”
If no, culture fit. If yes, thanks for your time, we'll be in touch.
I’ve sat in hiring meetings. The conversations are revealing. “She’s got great experience but I’m not sure she’d gel with the team.” Translation: she’s not like us. “He seemed a bit intense.” Translation: he had opinions. “I just didn’t get a good vibe.” Translation: I can’t explain why but I don’t want to hire this person and I know I’m not allowed to say the real reason.
The job listing says they want someone who “thinks differently.” But thinking differently is uncomfortable. It means sitting in meetings with someone who disagrees with you. It means having your ideas questioned by someone who doesn’t automatically respect the way things have always been done.
It means change, and nobody actually wants change. They want the appearance of change. They want to say they’re innovative without having to deal with actual innovation.
So they hire people who’ll have the exact same perspective within six months because that’s what the environment rewards.
The person who challenges the status quo doesn’t get promoted.
The person who questions decisions doesn’t get invited to the important meetings.
The person who thinks differently learns very quickly that thinking differently was only valued in the interview. In the actual job, thinking the same is how you survive.
I’ve seen this play out dozens of times. Company hires someone specifically because they’re different. Six months later that person is either gone or they’ve learned to stop being different. The culture ate them. It always does.
Because culture isn’t a thing you have, it’s a thing that protects itself. And it protects itself by rejecting anything that threatens it.
The companies that actually want fresh thinking don’t talk about it. They just hire people and let them do things differently. No posters on the wall. No mission statements about challenging conventions. They just tolerate disagreement because they know disagreement is where good ideas come from.
The ones with Challenge Everything on the wall are usually the worst. They’ve replaced actual openness with a slogan. They think saying it is the same as doing it.
Meanwhile, someone’s in a meeting right now, watching their suggestion die on the table, wondering why they ever thought this place was different.
Right now there’s a job listing being written…
“We want someone who isn't afraid to speak up.'
They'll just end up hiring someone who wouldn't say boo to a goose.
PS: I run a community for marketers who think differently: https://optout.ing/checkout/pro-member