Corporate Culture: Cocoon or Vulture?

 I had a powerful experience at a convention recently. I was speaking to independent insurance agents who are in a battle for survival. The parent company is downsizing and appears to be restructuring away some fundamental due process rights, including "just cause" firing. In addition, agents are fighting to remain autonomous, yet accountable, business owners as opposed to being chewed, crunched and swallowed up (some even spit out) by a bureaucratic leviathan.

 This scenario reminds me of existential crisis faced by my father years before. Let me take literary license: an evil weevil invasion of his once secure "cutthroat corporate cocoon." For nearly twenty years, my father had been working as a salesmen for a large manufacturer in New York City's garment center and fashion industry. As I mentioned, the competition was cutthroat, but still symbolically so. And through aggressive and tenacious persistence, he had carved out a legitimate and successful niche. (As I grapple with building Stress Doc Enterprises, his words continue to reverberate: "keep knocking on doors"; "don't be afraid of the big client -- it's easier to shoot an elephant than a flea." Now PETA supporters, please, we're talking metaphor here. Not to worry. New York Jewish men of that generation were not especially mechanically inclined. Based on how much trouble we had yearly putting up those window screens to keep out insects, I'm sure the last thing my father would ever fool with, aside from his stint in basic training, is a gun or a rifle. Mark, enough with the free association and get back to the story.)

 Okay, so my father has his sales turf, some financial security and hard-earned pride. Then, almost overnight, my father realizes that organized crime is infiltrating the company big time. And he's going to to have to report to one of these new executive slimeballs. His whole world is at risk; cutthroat is no longer symbolic. This isn't just downsizing, it's downright " frightsizing!" Dad's existential crisis is in high gear. From this experience I first learned there can be a fine line between homicidal and suicidal tendencies. Day to day, I didn't know if he'd go to work and punch someone out or not get off the couch, paralyzed by an explosive psychic cocktail of rage, fear and depression. (Good thing he was in group therapy at the time.)

He was caught in the classic reorganizational bind: "damned if I stay, damned if I leave." Fortunately, my old man realized "discretion is a better part than...'A Death of a Salesman.'" He resigned. Economic fears had him precipitously joining another large manufacturer. After a month, he knew it was the wrong move. What crystallized was his need for genuine control and autonomy, and a playing field in which he could aggressively compete. And he eventually found it as an independent sales rep for a small manufacturer. Of course, the owner of this garment center business was a "goniff" (Yiddish for thief) in his own right, and would often drive my father up the wall. But crazy we have practice with and can handle in my family. It's when people take cutthroat literally that we usually draw the line. And in fact, my father went on to have his most successful years in business.

 So, today's poetic moral:

 Fight when you can
 Flee when you must
 Flow like a man
 In the "Phoenix" we trust!

 Also, derive hope from the words of the French author and philosopher, Albert Camus: "Once we have accepted the fact of loss, we understand that the loved one obstructed a whole corner of the possible, pure now as a sky washed by rain." Personally, my father's saga has influenced the drive to build my own business. Still, I haven't internalized all the lessons of his perilous work place experience. You'd think I'd know better than to become a stress and violence prevention consultant for the US Postal Service!

Just remember, even in the face of intimidation, don't go postal. Confront your fears, seek support, channel your rage, break new ground and, of course, Practice Safe Stress!

 Feedback Segment: How about sharing your thoughts on how you, friends or colleagues use humor in dealing with stress, conflict or moods, yours or others, in your personal life, at home or at work? HFTE will run the best stories and, of course, credit you. (And the real lagniappe, you become a member of the Stress Doc's Stress Busters Club.) Also, email me to learn more about "The Stress Doc's" upcoming serious and humorous on-line support/chat group -- "The Frequent Sighers Club.

 Mark Gorkin, "The Stress Doc," Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is a nationally recognized speaker, workshop leader and author on stress, reorganizational change, anger, team building, creativity and humor. The Stress Doc is a columnist for the popular cyber-newsletter, Humor From The Edge. Mark is also the "Online Psychohumorist" for the major AOL mental health resource network, Online Psych. His motto: Have Stress? Will Travel! Reach "The Doc" at (202) 232-8662, email: Stress Doc@aol.com.