I read an interesting article the other day about what to look for when searching for the best career: “Think back to a time when you were at your best, at your happiest…what were you doing at the time?”

For me, I have been blessed with teams and companies where we ALL grew–working for three privately held companies. Three jobs that never felt like work. Three jobs where my growth potential was tied to care. Three jobs were I worked my tail off. Three jobs where my imagination and drive allowed me to grow people and sales. Three companies that were led by dreamers and doers.

I was happy.

It took a collaborative approach. No one was right. No one was wrong. We all were “allowed” to be ourselves, but knowing you took full responsibility for that self–good or bad.

You were accountable.

It sounds like such a far away world today.

I have a former team member I wrote a letter of recommendation for last week. She said it best. She said she was always supported to be the top dog even when she was the runt of the litter. Even when she did not know all she needed to know, she was celebrated as being damn good at her job. She didn’t know it all, but she had the drive and personality to light up a city block. She certainly was not doing nothing and getting a participation trophy.

She was learning.

She worked hard at being what she was being transported into being and she grew. She is now one of the top reps in the professional beauty industry.

Why?

Because she could be herself. The good, the bad…we cultivated her skills, but we never chained her spirit.

I remember when I went from sales into management. I was a great salesperson. I loved my customers. I never wanted to go into management. I was not given a choice due to a buy out. I was not a good manager in the beginning.

Why?

Because I managed people like they were me. My skill set, my drive…we were headed down a bad path. It took someone telling me that “I didn’t get it, call me back when you do”. (He promptly hung up on me.)

Another two months of mediocrity and stress went by until I really “got” it. I had nine women working for me, one with about nine personalities of her own and I wanted them to be me. It was an easier path, I thought.

I was wrong.

“Me” was okay, but it did not elevate them to where they needed to be. I needed to address their own strengths and virtues. Once I did, they shined above every team in the country. No one had free reign. We had rules. We had boundaries.

We had talent and passion beyond measure.

What we had most was mutual respect.

My current company has just been purchased. Do I know where I will land? Of course, not. I have been through buy outs in the past. What I can tell you is that both changed the culture of the original company. What was unique, became ordinary. What was a once creative space became a small box with large walls. Both became like everyone else’s companies: run of the mill.

This time, maybe not. Maybe the change will be an opportunity for true growth, after all, isn’t change in itself an opportunity? Who knows? I may even change in the process.

Still, I applaud the companies that recognize individuality. It seems all, but lost, in the world today. You are expected to think like the mainstream. You are all, but punished, for having your own ideals. You are managed by a script.

We need people and companies that maintain the uniqueness of the people who make the whole. My best memories of success were never with just a solo picture of myself.

And, we wonder why people have to think back to a time of happiness.

Is it because it is not a current thought?