This is a great post Ben. I'd like to add a bit about how objectification can also interfere with the Growth Mindset. My own experience in coming to Chimera is that at my old job, I felt people had an idea of what I could do, what I was best at, and could only see me in the role I had been very successful in - which was largely technical, the "pair of hands" if you will, with organizational abilities. I felt I needed to come to a place where no one knew me, to reinvent myself and be allowed to try new challenges. I became a scientific leader, a capacity builder as well as a competent bench scientist with good organization abilities. But overtime, even at Chimera, I felt it was sometimes a struggle to continue to grow into new roles, to be trusted to step outside my established strengths and try to stretch. Sometimes this was due to how limited our resources were, a feeling that we couldn't afford to lose anyone in their current role. What helped was every time new people were hired in to the team. A new person, with a different perspective and no previous history with me, was a new opportunity to re-define myself and my skillset.
Ultimately I have grown and changed during my time at Chimera, and largely felt I had the opportunity, the space, the psychological safety to do so - with some headwinds at times, but never any brick walls :-). But this is an aspect of diversity - call it internal diversity over time - that I think is important to foster as part of a growth mindset in longterm employees who will change as people and in their priorities over time.
Krista <3! Don't let me off the hook. You're absolutely right. We can easily fall into the same trap of short-termism that I rant against regarding our financial system. Investing in your growth, even if it cost us in the near term (this your definition of values and culture) because your contributions were so valuable to us, would have ultimately paid greater dividends to Chimera and to society with your expanded impact.
It's such a great point. Per Giles' point, if growth trajectory is a metric of great culture, how do we ensure/support our longest tenure colleagues get the expanded opportunities they uniquely want and need? And it's not just about growth, but recognition, compensation, influence, etc. too?
We, I, can do better. We should not default to stagnation because collectively we've built a long standing, robust relationship. If anything we should double down. More on this in a future post.
PS: Grateful to you for furthering my thinking about this form of objectification.
PPS: really want to dig further into your comment about how the addition of a new (diverse) POV from a new teammate allowed you to redefine yourself. This smacks of non-linearity which has the potential for leveraging human potential.
This is a great post Ben. I'd like to add a bit about how objectification can also interfere with the Growth Mindset. My own experience in coming to Chimera is that at my old job, I felt people had an idea of what I could do, what I was best at, and could only see me in the role I had been very successful in - which was largely technical, the "pair of hands" if you will, with organizational abilities. I felt I needed to come to a place where no one knew me, to reinvent myself and be allowed to try new challenges. I became a scientific leader, a capacity builder as well as a competent bench scientist with good organization abilities. But overtime, even at Chimera, I felt it was sometimes a struggle to continue to grow into new roles, to be trusted to step outside my established strengths and try to stretch. Sometimes this was due to how limited our resources were, a feeling that we couldn't afford to lose anyone in their current role. What helped was every time new people were hired in to the team. A new person, with a different perspective and no previous history with me, was a new opportunity to re-define myself and my skillset.
Ultimately I have grown and changed during my time at Chimera, and largely felt I had the opportunity, the space, the psychological safety to do so - with some headwinds at times, but never any brick walls :-). But this is an aspect of diversity - call it internal diversity over time - that I think is important to foster as part of a growth mindset in longterm employees who will change as people and in their priorities over time.
Krista <3! Don't let me off the hook. You're absolutely right. We can easily fall into the same trap of short-termism that I rant against regarding our financial system. Investing in your growth, even if it cost us in the near term (this your definition of values and culture) because your contributions were so valuable to us, would have ultimately paid greater dividends to Chimera and to society with your expanded impact.
It's such a great point. Per Giles' point, if growth trajectory is a metric of great culture, how do we ensure/support our longest tenure colleagues get the expanded opportunities they uniquely want and need? And it's not just about growth, but recognition, compensation, influence, etc. too?
We, I, can do better. We should not default to stagnation because collectively we've built a long standing, robust relationship. If anything we should double down. More on this in a future post.
PS: Grateful to you for furthering my thinking about this form of objectification.
PPS: really want to dig further into your comment about how the addition of a new (diverse) POV from a new teammate allowed you to redefine yourself. This smacks of non-linearity which has the potential for leveraging human potential.