Rubber Band Me

Work life has been all topsy turvy since May with two unwanted portfolio reshuffles and another one (or two) more underway. It has come to a point where my business units would call to ask who was in charge of such and such a company and I would scramble through my printed list just to discover that it was the wrong version I was looking at. I can't even remember which companies I am in charge of and honestly, it doesn't matter anymore.


The only ones who are not fazed by the changes are the two bosses. The reason? Because they are not on the ground dealing with the various PICs of each business unit. This is seriously disruptive. I can't think of a good reason why the bosses are putting all of us through this predicament. Our productivity is affected. Our morale is beaten. Our cynicism is soaring. And our reason to stay on is thinning.

We are like pawns in this game of chess, where the queen is striving to out maneuver the king. Protect herself from the underperformer and subjecting other teams to unnecessary burden. We are like rubber bands, being stretched and kept in suspense of where we will be tossed to next. And surprise, surprise, the biggest rubber band seems to be me. Tossed to a completely different portfolio. Then tossed partially back to my old portfolio. And now rumour has it to be tossed back to the other half of my old portfolio (and I suspect it is in addition to some of my new portfolio companies). It's like from an upgrade to a downgrade and then to a what-the-heck-you're-trying-to-work-me-to-the-bone grade!?! What is this???

And this just in, today I hear (and apparently it's not a secret as I thought it was) that tomorrow I'll probably be given a choice to take on a role to head a listed group. A much more senior colleague has decided to decline this role and I'm next in line, apparently. I don't know what to think of this. A "yay" or a "are you crazy, dei?"

I'm confused. Is this a sign to stay or to leave? We'll see what happens tomorrow. Chances are, I'll probably be the last to know my fate.